Good Teacher Magazine 2018, Term 4 by Good Teacher Magazine

Term Four 2018

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Your Soapbox A rising tide lifts all boats Jennifer Charteris The Wave by Kahlou Koefoed Review:Kelly Hudson Examination Singularity John Hellner An Apple For The Teacher Elaine Le Sueur (MNZM) Best Opportunities for Female STEM Students Honeypot.io FANTASTIC FLIGHT: go ABOVE and BEYOND at MOTAT! MOTAT Education Maintaining Universities’ Raison D’etre: Meeting The Challenge Professor the Hon Gareth Evans Golden Dragon’s Easy Stir Fry Sauces Math education programme brings Stanford students Jeannie Crumly Cole Are We Prepped for Superintelligence? CM Rubin I Did Nothing Today Secret Teacher Max Einstein The Genius Experiment Review Supporting London’s bastard children Stuart Roberts Becoming Flexible and Adaptable in a Rapidly-Changing World: Michelle LaBrosse Standardise Audition Procedures New Zealand School of Dance Sending Love - Christmas 2018 Hannah Computer Component And Circuit Board Insect Mandalas Julie Alice Chappell Rethinking concussion education for a new generation of athletes Carrie Spector Why leaders struggle with accountability Marlene Chism How a UCLA philosophy professor helped construct ‘The Good Place’ Jessica Wolf, How teaching instead of terminating pays off in business Perri Grinberg Independent kids reap health benefits of walking to school VicHealth I’m Writing A Book And Yes I’m Yelling! Stephanie Jankowski Does the keto diet live up to its promise? Vicky Stein Africa International University Mary Kiprotich Agreeing to disagree about medical treatment for children Oxford Science Blog Six Signs Your Career is Stalling J.R. Duren Women much less likely to ask questions in academic seminars Alecia Carter et al Exploring Innovative Cities and the Future of Work: 365 Days of Miniature Cut Paper Egrets, Sparrows and Other Birds Kate Sierzputowski The Health and Well-Being of Young Immigrants CM Rubin Oh Boy Review Brush Art by The Gentleman Felter Simon Brown Hawthorne High School’s New Principal Shares His Vision John Van Vliet Relieving Teacher Blues Roger Front Cover: Back Cover:

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is produced in the first week of each school term and uploaded to http://www.goodteacher.co.nz The magazine is internationally freely available online NOTE: The opinions expressed in Teacher Magazine are not necessarily those of ed-media or the editorial team. Goo

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Your Soapbox!

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A teacher somewhere in your neighbourhood is grading and preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching television. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are using their ’free time’, and often investing their own money, for your child’s literacy, prosperity and future.

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If you want to have YOUR SAY please email your offering to: info@goodteacher.co.nz

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A rising tide lifts all boats –

Avoiding the dichotomy of ideal (exceptional) and second-class (nonexceptional) students Dr. Jennifer Charteris University of New England

Educators face an ongoing challenge to effectively address students’ individual capabilities. There has been much debate about approaches to extending the capabilities of students with unusually high levels of academic or creative capacity. The notion of giftedness has long been under scrutiny. It was interesting to note that in ‘NZ Teachers (Primary)’ Facebook page, a post critiquing the term ‘giftedness’ received 69 comments and 154 likes over five days. It appears that Gifted Education continues to be a hot topic for teachers with plenty of contention in the air. Most of those Facebook comments reflect critiques in the academic literature. Recently I undertook a research project with 85 Aotearoa educators (teachers, school leaders and Gifted and Talented Education advisors) who undertook an online questionnaire. There were a range of perspectives held. ~Comments in italics are from educators in the study.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 5

The labelling of students and exclusive pedagogy is an issue for some teachers. There were a range of comments made about the social positioning of gifted students. “It is important to get the right mix of celebrating their Gifted and Talentedness in a positive and constructive way without putting them too much on a pedestal because EVERY child should have the same encouragement. - i.e. in a way that encourages them, motivates them.” There is the well documented argument in the literature that gifted education may be embedding existing social inequities by assisting those who are already socially privileged (for instance white and middle class) and disadvantaging other groups (e.g. gifted students of colour and/or gifted students of low socioeconomic backgrounds.) In the study rurality is also identified as an issue for gifted education in Aotearoa. “There need to be opportunities for gifted students in rural areas or schools away from main cities.” Those who reject the argument that gifted education can be elitist, level criticism that nay sayers in Aotearoa are part of our tall poppy syndrome. “NZ teachers’ perceptions are an issue - particularly regarding Tall Poppies.” The data also highlights that there may be misunderstandings about gifted students, which may be linked with the perceptions of elitism. “There can be a tendency to demonise gifted students and indulge in urban myths about them.” Students identified as gifted can receive educational programs focused on creative and critical thinking skills that differentiate them from their peers. However, some authors argue that ‘streaming and creaming’ students can be ineffective at meeting students’ needs. Recognition of the diversity of gifted students’ learning needs is identified as an issue in the study, alongside funding parity and support for both children and parents. “There needs to be awareness of diverse needs and learners. Equality of funding in comparison with other special needs students. Social and emotional support for students and parents.” Unsurprisingly, funding, staffing, resources, and time for gifted education are major challenges identified by the teachers in the research. “Funding and staffing levels limit the access to opportunities.” 6 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

“Resources to help teachers so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” “Time to interview students and families.” “Time to gather data and make informed decisions.” The complexity around identification of giftedness is seen as a big issue. (This may be because of funding concerns.) “There needs to be greater understanding of the area is needed so that it doesn’t end up swamped by those who don’t really fit the term!” This notion of being “swamped” is challenged by Carol Tomlinson (2015) who argues for a rich differentiated curriculum that provides strategic scaffolding to support all students to work towards achieving their set learning outcomes. She argues that this requires all teachers to learn how to use differentiation and scaffolding for best effect, not just some practitioners. The notion that all teachers can use differentiated pedagogical approaches to benefit all learners in their classes corresponds with the metaphor that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. By identifying and separating students, it has been argued that educators can create a ‘shadow’ of ‘lesser’ groups of students who compare less favourably to the ‘brightest and best’. This argument that we should not create divisive labels corresponds with Harwood and Humphry’s (2008) critique of the ‘spectrum’ as an apparatus that supports the ‘ideal’ and ‘non ideal’ student to be constituted. Harwood and Humphry (2008) point out that the notion of spectrum has been used in areas including autism, reading ability and dyslexia, ADHD, physical function and vision. In their critique of exceptionality, they highlight that there is a paradigm of normality emerging where to be gifted is ‘ideal’, and to be nongifted is, is just ‘bad luck’. There is “a sharp dichotomy between an ideal student (the exceptional student) and a second-class student (the nonexceptional)” (p. 372). Teacher education to support awareness about identification and pedagogy is a factor to consider, as well as in-school support for educators to develop their capacity through mentoring. “It is helpful for teachers to really understand the characteristics of gifted children; promote engagement; build capacity within the school setting; and access collegial mentors.”

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Figure 1. The application of the spectrum. (Harwood and Humphry, 2008, p. 378) However, in schools there may be a hierarchy of privilege associated with teaching a streamed gifted class. Being a teacher of this class can be perceived as prestigious and this may cause animosity among teaching staff. “Teachers are very keen to get what is seen to be a ‘plum’ job and there is intense competition to land one.” With competition between schools, parents may select particular schools for their children on the basis of gifted programs and be demanding in the process. “Parents may be very pushy to get their child into a gifted program.” Where there is competition for enrolment gifted programs may provide a point of difference for school marketing. Tomlinson has also argued that “many teachers do not know how to provide curriculum and instruction that challenge learners who are high achieving” (Tomlinson, 2004, p. 521). This point is raised in the research. “When schools think that students are best served by being taught as one, but there isn’t the rigor and challenge for gifted students. Project-based learning is not enough there needs to be true challenge in the programme.” However, teachers may feel that catering for gifted students is an add-on. “Some teachers are resentful of having to prepare ‘extra’

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work.” It is possible that these teachers may not feel responsible for the high achieving students in their classes as they may hold the view that they should be educated separately. Tomlinson (2004, p. 520) makes the point that: “[a]s long as high level curriculum and instruction are accepted as appropriate for only advanced settings, and those settings are the responsibility of someone other than the general education classroom teacher, there is little impetus to retool the broader spectrum of teachers and classrooms to be places where such high level curriculum and instruction are the norm.” Matthews and Dai (2014, p. 347) offer a helpful definition of giftedness to help us to think about it as located and situated in the sociocultural contexts of classrooms and schools. Giftedness is a “dynamic, domain-specific and socially mediated process, resulting from complex interactions of dispositions, aptitudes and social– cultural environments, and leading to diverse pathways and outcomes.” With a focus in Aotearoa on culturally responsive teaching, growth mind-sets, student agency, and teacher and student assessment capability, there is much to be said for the notion that we look more closely at the programs on offer rather than the Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 7

technologies of labelling particular individuals. Matthews and Dai make a useful observation on this point. (2014, p. 347) “Thinking about giftedness as exceptional domain-specific academic advancement that can change over time leads to a realisation that the closer identification practices are to school-based learning, the likelier they are to be appropriate, defensible and culture-fair. This means considering many different information sources on a frequent and ongoing basis and understanding that assessment results reflect current, rather than permanent learning needs. In fact, wherever possible, the gifted label should be attached to differentiated programming options, rather than individual students.” It may be worthwhile to rethink the language we use to frame conceptions of learners, as it reveals something about what we value. Close consideration of the derisive use of ‘tall poppies’ and unproblematic use of being ‘on the spectrum’ with the hidden values of ‘ideal’ and ‘nonexceptional’ are worthwhile. With the abolition of standards, is timely to debate the issues associated with best catering for all learners and assisting them to rise on the tide of a rich personalised curriculum. Acknowledgement: Thank you to Dr Marguerite Jones and Dr Eryn Thomas for collaboration on the research project. Thank you to the teachers, school leaders and Gifted and Talented Education advisors who contributed to the research. References Harwood, V., & Humphry, N. (2008). Taking exception: Discourses of exceptionality and the invocation of the “ideal”. In S. Gabel & S. Danforth (Eds.), Disability and the politics of education: An international reader (pp. 371- 383). New York: NY: Peter Lang. Matthews, D., & Dai, D. (2014). Gifted education: changing conceptions, emphases and practice. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 24(4), 335-353. doi: 10.1080/09620214.2014.979578 Tomlinson, C. (2004). The mobius effect: Addressing Learner Variance in Schools. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(6), 516-524. Tomlinson, C. (2015). Teaching for excellence in academically diverse classrooms. Society, 52(3), 203–209. doi:10.1007/s12115-015-9888-0. 8 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

About Kalou Koefoed Born in Denmark, Kalou Koefoed is an artist and writer based in New Zealand. When she’s not writing she works at an art gallery and goes for long walks in the hills. The Wave is her first novel. She lives in Mount Maunganui with her husband and son and their cat, Mr Black.

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The Wave Kalou Koefoed - rollingaskalou.com Self-Published - https://www.amazon.com/ Kalou-Koefoed/e/B07FKZBH3Y Available in both Kindle and Paperback versions, Go to Amazon (above), for pricing “ One of the keys to successful batting has always been the marrying of technique and method to best advantage - that is, not just understanding how to play the best shots, but understanding when to play them; which shots to avoid in certain circumstances; how to tell the difference between a trap and The Wave uses brilliant imagery that allows the an opportunity; and when to change reader to picture the various characters but the guard to counter a a particular words are easy enough to understand for threat.” younger readers. - Brendon McCullum The Wave is also written in small chapters which On reading this quote at the opening of The Wave, I reflected on how appropriate it was in a life-sense, not just as a sporting analogy. It was not until I finished reading the book that I was able to reflect its absolute hand-in-glove fit to the adventure I’d just been on.

make it perfect as an on-going read - or a readaloud book.

I’m definitely going to read it again and would really recommend this for any person (both young and old) who likes a little bit of adventure.

Sim is a 10 (nearly 11) year old New Zealand boy who embarks (by accident) on an adventure that sees him travel the globe (to nearly every continent), meeting (good) people who selflessly aid his journey home, meeting (nasty) people who selfishly attempt to derail that journey, a little bit of cricket, a little bit of self-discovery - and is accompanied along the way by his wee furry friend Mr Black. This book is a highly entertaining read for young people as well as adults and was an enjoyable page-turner as the adventure took twists and turns that were delightfully unexpected. An interesting mix of real places and current affairs is imaginatively woven into the story which gives The Wave a unique style of factish-fiction which added a semi-relatable element to the journey.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 9

Examination Singularity I recently supervised NCEA external examinations. In our two sessions yesterday, over 500 students sat Level 1, 2 and Scholarship – years 11,12,13. There was only one breach of the rules. A ‘silly’ boy wanted to go to the toilet. As per standard operating procedure, he was asked to take off his jacket. The supervisor signing him out to the bathroom quickly felt an unusual weight in the pocket, checked it and found a phone, an earplug, keys, a wallet and a box of matches. I say the boy was ‘silly’ because he did two silly things. Firstly, the students have been told and they have read the instructions they are given and posters around the designated exam – NOTHING IN YOUR POCKETS. And secondly, if he really wanted to cheat, he wouldn’t have worn his coat to the toilet break, where he must have known he would be caught. Silly, but not a cheater. The boy’s father called the school to thank them for picking up the infraction, as the dad thinks the young man has been a nuisance in the last couple of months: “thinks he knows more than the rest of us.” Silly. Other than the one incident, not even a hint of any wrong doing in the examination. The system works to prevent breaches of the rules and secure fairness in the examination hall. But, way beyond the examination system in place, every candidate I interacted with behaved politely, pleasantly, honestly and 99 percent of them worked with focus and intent to the best of their ability. Once again, I was reminded the future of New Zealand is in as good hands as our past. Positive and decent people will continue to populate this country.

Design, not chance The success of the system happens by design, not chance. Parents teach respect for authority and rules. Teachers prepare students, not only in the subject content, but how to manage examinations to their best advantage. NCEA officialdom has foreseen every contingency and 10 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

organised the sitting of examinations to prevent incidents and to manage them if they occur. My supervision guide booklet was 40 pages long and we had to complete a workbook to demonstrate our grasp of the procedures. Efficiency and organisation prevail from the start. The Principal’s Nominee, overseeing the whole two weeks of examination sessions, attends courses and has been trained to ensure the examinations remain incident free. The principal and deputy principal, with support from teachers, usher the students into the room. The deputy principal collects the rare phone or piece of paper or wallet students may possess. Silence is demanded immediately. Supervisors check the candidate’s admission slip against the exam papers previously placed on the desk. Supervisors look for earphones, writing on the back of admission slips, internet watches. The supervisors circulate, attentive for any suspicious activity. Guidelines, supported by documentation and forms, prepare supervisors for all contingencies. The atmosphere and tone of the session sends a message to any student contemplating inappropriate action: THINK AGAIN!

Examination Singularity Right now, a cheater could smuggle helpful material into the examination room if they set their mind to doing so. Important formulas, key names, pivotal dates, summary diagrams, crucial quotes, mnemonic clues or significant terms could all be couriered into an examination hall on a postage stamp, matchbox, receipt, business card or tissue paper secreted in a shoe, sock or undergarment. A quick transfer in the toilet and a very discreet reference to the data back in the examination room, would be hard to detect for even the most vigilant of supervisors. And perhaps, well worth the risk taken by the candidate. It may be necessary, eventually to utilize security screening devices, routinely used in airports to pick out the possible cheaters. Not too far down the track, the rapid advances in

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John Hellner

the power of machine technology, could threaten the security of the examination system beyond what we know – machines outsmarting human organisation and efficiency through wearable accessories and more – the examination singularity. Not long ago smart phones became a threat, enabling a would-be cheater to access useful information if the phone remained unseen or through earplugs veiled underneath long hair. Now, google watches offer up online data that unsuspecting supervisors may miss. Google and others pursue spectacle technology capable of connecting to the internet, eventually miniaturized to the point of being indistinguishable to the naked eye; contact lenses with data etched in the surface. And now we enter the world of embeddable implants: to swipe our credit cards and access our banking and to tell our doctors when we don’t take our medicine. Implants could be used for more: magnets embedded in each ear transmitting sound, via a wire coil worn around the neck, converting electromagnetic fields, creating internal headphones; an “electronic tattoo” equipped with sensors that can transmit information via wireless technology. And as farfetched as it may seem now, memory implants or “neuroprosthetics” to stimulate cognition.

Overcoming the challenges In response to these challenges, some educationalists suggest changes in our assessment and reporting systems. Some say adopt a completely internally assessed curriculum with or without concerns about standards between schools. But, without moderation the quality and reputation of the school will determine the value of the qualification achieved. Even with moderation, which often has its own set of problems, internal assessment can lead to issues of plagiarism or variations in management or conditions of the assessment. Some say employ a portfolio style assessment strategy, possibly with an element of experiential

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learning. Good for some subjects, not so good for others, plus add in all the other potential demons of internal assessment and moderation. Others point to the more economic and authentic option of employers or universities offering their own targeted assessment or entry level assessment instruments. This probably means lots of expensive testing and false starts from multiple institutions and employers. (I just took 2 specific tests in order to apply for a possible short-term job for the 2018 census taking – both online: one for my computer skills and one for my ability to check detail.) Many countries place emphasis on an external Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) designed to measure innate ability, rather than content learned at school. Certainly, undermines cheating because it does not test prescribed content, but a very high stakes, one short deal. Or maybe, a combination of some or all of the above, a pathway NZ pursues to a degree, in some subjects.

An imperfect world Academic assessment remains an imprecise and sticky exercise, troubled by unfairness ranging from deep seated social and economic inequality erecting barriers to some kids ever being given a fair go, to the more basic situation of the kid in the exam who happens to be the smartest in the class but has an upset gut after a fight with his or her mother an hour before the exam and performs below expectations. In the end, no matter what method we use to assess and report progress, it is just a different system of assessment, not better or worse, just different and containing its own set of drawbacks. As the examination singularity approaches, we may have to think about placing more or less emphasis on different types of assessment techniques we use, in which proportions, depending on the subject or the purpose of the assessment. Matching horses for courses. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 11

AN APPLE FOR THE TEACHER

The gifting of fruit is associated with hardship in world history. In Denmark and Sweden during the 1700s, families gave baskets of apples as payment for the education of their children. Apples have become symbols associated with schools all over the world and most of us are familiar with the phrase that I have deliberately chosen to share my apples with teacher readers in the hope that they will provide some compensation for the hard work that goes into the job of teaching.

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Elaine Le Sueur (MNZM)

A handful of websites worth visiting

www.educatorstechnology.com/2017/04/32-great-educational-websites-for.html This link takes you to an infographic with links to 32 sites. https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/educational-technology-mobile-learning3732469/20-great-steam-websites-for-young-learners-5430896221 This link is to a number of tools that are great for building STEAM projects Science/ Technology/Engineering/Art/Maths

Professional Reading

www.giftEDnz.org.nz Resources/ links to publications and research plus a link to a YouTube channel. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0261429417716348 The importance of mindfulness: An article by Stephanie Tolan that discusses how a highly gifted child’s different intensity and cognitive ability affects life experiences.

Podcasts

https://blog.ted.com/9-talks-by-impressive-kids/ TED talks are a wonderful source of inspiration. Check out these amazing talks by children and bookmark the TED blog site. Well worth the time! https://blog.ozobot.com/2018/08/21/10-steam-podcasts-parents-and-kids-will-love/ A link to 10 podcasts about subjects lending themselves to STEAM investigations. Great for kids to listen to.

Learn to differentiate.

Differentiation is giving students choice to add depth to the learning and includes the provision of resources to match levels of understanding. http://www.ssgt.nsw.edu.au/documents/3_content_pro_etal.pdf Here is a link to help out with ideas: https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/differentiated-instruction-strategies-examplesdownload/

Educational Christmas ideas for the classroom at the end of the year.

https://made2share.blogspot.com/ Click FOLLOW while you are there and keep up to date with new offerings.

Survival Strategies for when the going gets tough Make a list of things to be done then categorise (chunk) them, check them off as each group is completed and give yourself a little reward. Celebrate learning success with a powerful way to end the school year: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/powerful-way-to-end-school-year-donna-wilsonmarcus-conyers 60 more ways to survive as your teaching year ends. http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/4024

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 13

Best Opportunities for Fe Study reveals percentage of female STEM graduates in 41 OECD countries, in addition to technology wage gap, ahead of the 2018 winter semester â&#x20AC;˘ Latvia, the Netherlands and Finland offer the best opportunities for prospective female STEM students, due to a low percentage in current STEM graduates and relatively fair wages in terms of the gender pay gap. â&#x20AC;˘ Study aims to encourage prospective women in tech by highlighting nations which require a big influx of female STEM graduates to help tighten their tech gender gap. Leading technology career platform Honeypot, has released a study revealing the best opportunities for aspiring female STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students, amid applications for the 2018 winter semester. The data shows the percentage of female STEM graduates in 41 OECD countries, and with no nation able to boast a 50/50 female to male ratio, this study aims to encourage aspiring female students to consider a career in the tech field. This release is part of a larger study released earlier this year, The 2018 Women in Tech Index, which analyses 22 factors including wage, pay gap and inequality data to determine the best nations for women in the technology field. Every countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s STEM graduate population in this index is lacking in gender diversity. Therefore, there are huge opportunities for female students in all nations analysed in terms of tightening the technology gender gap, especially considering the multitude of worldwide initiatives looking to increase the number of women in the tech industry. However, the technology pay gap and average wages for women can vary hugely, so are an 14 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

impacting factor when students are deciding on a career course. In order to pinpoint the best opportunities for prospective female STEM students, the data has been split to show which nations have the smallest percentage of female STEM graduates, in correlation to fairer potential wages. Below you can find the top 15 countries which offer the best opportunities for female STEM students: The larger study focuses on 41 countries in the OECD and EU, and offers comparable data relating to both the tech industry and the wage gap. The data covers areas such as: Gender in the Overall Economy: factors such as percentage of women in work and the overall gender income parity. Women in Tech: as measured by the number of women in IT positions compared to the overall

Country

Female STEM Graduates (%)

Tech Average Wage Gend for Women (EUR) in

Latvia

16.67%

29218

Netherlands

18.70%

46208

Finland

20.00%

38047

Austria

20.63%

41638

Estonia

21.26%

21881

Sweden

22.48%

40303

United States

24.24%

70153

Canada

24.81%

43034

Ireland

24.81%

49052

France

25.37%

42333

Spain

25.93%

33940

Croatia

26.47%

24219

13 New Zealand

27.01%

36629

Iceland

27.54%

38772

Cyprus

28.57%

28337

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emale STEM Students Honeypot.io

Methodology This study focuses on 41 countries which are part of the OECD and the EU, due to comparably collected data relating to the technology industry and the gender wage gap.

% Difference of Overall Gender der Pay Gap Pay Gap and Gender Pay Gap in n Tech (%) Tech

10.90%

6.10%

18.40%

-2.30%

13.50%

4.18%

22.70%

-3.33%

25.50%

1.40%

10.60%

3.40%

11.86%

7.02%

21.04%

-2.41%

17.30%

-3.13%

11.80%

4.00%

13.70%

1.20%

13.00%

-2.60%

9.84%

-1.92%

14.50%

-0.78%

13.50%

0.50%

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Criteria Total Workforce (Millions): Annual labour force, Persons, in Millions. Source: OECD Statistics, Eurostat. Female Workforce (Millions): Annual labour force, Persons, in Millions, Women. Source: OECD Statistics, Eurostat.% Women: The number of women in the labour force, depicted as a percentage.

% Women Legislators, Senior Officials, and Managers: The percentage of women in senior or managerial positions, with a higher percentage indicating a higher level of parity in terms of career progression. Taken from the World Economic Forum Report: Female, male legislators, senior officials and managers (%): Major Group 1 of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). Source : ILO, ILOSTAT database, employment by occupation, 2016, or latest available data. % Women in Parliament: World Economic Forum Report: Percentage of women in the lower or single house. Source is the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in National Parliaments. Data reflects information provided by National Parliaments by 1 September 2016. % Women in Ministerial Positions: World Economic Forum Report: Percentage of women holding ministerial portfolios, such as Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance. Some overlap between ministers and heads of state that also hold a ministerial portfolio may occur. Source: The Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in Politics 2015, reflecting appointments up to 1 January 2015. Data is updated every two years. Overall Workforce Average Wage (GBP), Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Average Wage (GBP), Gender Pay Gap (%): The average wage, across all professions, for both men and women and the percentage difference between them, known as the Gender Pay Gap, using most current available data (2015). Sources: OECD, Eurostat. Average of both sources. Eurostat: difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of men. OECD: difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men. Data refers to full-time employees and to self-employed workers. Tech Workforce (Thousands): ICT Persons, Thousands. Sub-major group 25 of the Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 15

https://www.honeypot.io/women-in-tech-2018/

numbers of people in tech. Opportunities for Women in Tech: calculated by comparing the difference between the percentage share of women in the general workforce, and the percentage of women in the technology sector. In addition, the study took into account the percentage of female STEM graduates. Tech Wage Gap: difference in gender wage gap between women working in the tech industry and the overall workforce at large. Female Career Progression: as judged by the percentage of women in managerial and ministerial positions.

“Gender parity in the workplace is not just an ethical or moral issue, but also an economic one: McKinsey found that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. As tech recruitment specialists, we are often confronted with the gender imbalances of the industry, which are fully exposed in this study.” says Emma Tracey, Co-Founder at Honeypot. “The results reveal the countries which have the most to offer women looking to progress in the tech industry, with Portugal, The United States and Latvia highlighted as the top three nations that have taken positive steps towards gender parity in the technology field in terms of fairer wages. However, with the proportion of female tech workers remaining under 30% across the board, we hope that this study will enrich the conversation concerning equality in this industry and inspire more women to seek out opportunities in tech.”

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International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). Professionals: Information and communications technology professionals. By definition, the information and communication sector has been created, combining activities involving production and distribution of information and cultural products, provision of the means to transmit or distribute these products, as well as data or communications, information technology activities and the processing of data and other information service activities. The main components of this section are publishing activities, including software publishing (division 58), motion picture and sound recording activities (division 59), radio and TV broadcasting and programming activities (division 60), telecommunications activities (division 61) and information technology activities (division 62) and other information service activities (division 63). Source: Eurostat. % Workforce in Tech: The percentage of people (of all genders) working in the information and communication technology sector out of the overall labour force.

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Female Tech Workforce (Thousands): Number of women in the information and communication technology sector out of the total labour force. % Women in Tech: The percentage of women working in the information and communication technology sector out of the total labour force working in ICT. Female STEM Graduates (%): The percentage of STEM graduates who are female, taken from the World Economic Forum Report. Source: UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics database (accessed September 2016). Measures the percentage of female and male graduates in ISCED 5-8 programmes from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (% of total number of graduates). Tech Average Wage (GBP): Average annual wage in ICT (as defined above). Annual in GBP PPP (Purchasing power parities), adjusted to OECD PPP wage level and EU PPP wage level. Sources: OECD, Eurostat, local reports. Tech Average Wage for Women (GBP): Average annual wage in ICT (as defined above), women, in GBP PPP (Purchasing power parities), taking into account the wage gap in ICT and average wage in ICT. Sources: OECD, Eurostat, local reports. Gender Pay Gap in Tech (%): Wage gap in the ICT sector (as defined above). Sources: Eurostat, OECD, local reports. % Difference of Overall Gender Pay Gap and Gender Pay Gap in Tech: The percentage difference between the gender pay gap in ICT and overall gender pay gap. A positive number implies that women in tech are more fairly paid, in comparison to other professions.

Gender Inequality Index: A score of 0 = equality, the higher the score, the worse the inequality. The closer the score is to 0, the more equal a country is. Gender inequality Index (2015). Source: Human Development Report. Gender Pay Gap 2010: Gender pay gap (as defined above), data from 2010. In the case of Chile: 2011 as 2010 was not available. Comparison of Gender Pay Gap From 2010 to 2015: Difference between the current wage gap and the wage gap 5 years ago. A positive number implies a positive increase, I.E. the gender pay gap has increased. A negative number implies that the gender pay gap has decreased.

“The World Economic Forum reported in 2017 that economic gender equality will not be reached for another 170 years, but that equality for women in the labour force would add $28 trillion to the global economy by 2025.” comments Emma Tracey, Co-Founder at Honeypot. “Consider too that the technology industry is likely to form the core economic platform in the future, and it’s clear how desperately we need to address the issue of gender inequality in the IT field. We hope that this index helps to open the eyes of those at the top of the industry and galvanize them into making positive changes, not only for the sake of parity, but for the entire global economy.”

N.B. The top 15 were determined by filtering countries with the lowest percentage of current female STEM graduates, and a difference in overall pay gap compared to tech pay gap of either positive, or less than -3.5%. A full methodology is available at the bottom of this press release. Note: % Difference of Overall Gender Pay Gap and Gender Pay Gap in Tech: The percentage difference between the gender pay gap in ICT and overall gender pay gap. A positive number implies that women in tech are more fairly paid, in comparison to other professions. To view the full results of the larger study, please see here: https://www.honeypot.io/ women-in-tech-2018/ About Honeypot: Honeypot is the Europe’s TechFocused Job Platform for Software Developers, DevOps Engineers, Data Scientists, Product Owners, QA Testers and Engineering Leaders. Launched in October 2015, Honeypot operates across Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Honeypot connects pre-screened tech talent with companies in a marketplace.

Exchange rate correct as of 26.02.2018. 1 USD =0.81 Euro, 0.71 British Pound.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 17

FANTASTIC FLIGHT: go ABOV How does an aircraft fly? What does it feel like to soar like a bird?

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VE and BEYOND at MOTAT!

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 19

FANTASTIC FLIGHT: go ABOV MOTAT and Perpetual Guardian invite you and your students to come to MOTAT for a Fantastic Flight education programme and to experience Boeing’s global touring exhibition Above and Beyond. Above and Beyond, presented by Boeing and developed in collaboration with NASA and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, will be on show exclusively at MOTAT from 17 November until 11 March 2019. This exhibition is highly interactive and designed to challenge and excite visitors with immersive experiences, design activities and inspiring stories from innovators past and present. Upon entering Above and Beyond students will find themselves in a wraparound theatre. Flowing off this space are five themed galleries comprising dozens of interactive displays. Activities include riding to the edge of space in a simulated space elevator, testing their own supersonic fighter-jet design in a virtual high-speed flying competition and experiencing the forces of flight through motion-sensing image capture technology that will enable small groups to feel what it’s like to fly like a bird in a flock. With the aim of motivating new generations of children to take up science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the Above and Beyond exhibition more than delivers on this goal, stimulating children’s interest and excitement about all things space and flight related. In the accompanying Fantastic Flight programme school groups will further explore the science behind flight and aerodynamics in an educator-lead session at MOTAT’s Aviation Display Hall. Children will experiment with a hovering object in a wind tube, make an aerofoil and then fly it in a wind tunnel to experience first-hand the four forces of flight.

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VE and BEYOND at MOTAT! “After Boeing’s founding in 1916, the New Zealand Flying School became our first international customer by purchasing two Boeing B&W aircraft. Since then, we’ve been honoured to support the country’s commercial and defence aviation needs including the recent announcement that the New Zealand Government selected the Boeing P-8 as its new maritime patrol aircraft,” said Maureen Dougherty, president of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific. “Our long relationship with New Zealand is why we are so excited to see Above and Beyond come to MOTAT; from the history of flight to the future of space travel, this exhibition will be a great experience for New Zealand’s future engineers, pilots and explorers.” BOOKING INFORMATION: If you would like your school to participate in this opportunity and would like further information about the programme and the exhibition, please contact bookings@motat.org.nz or call 09 815 5808 Thanks to the generous support of Perpetual Guardian , MOTAT are offering $1000 transport subsidies to 30 low decile schools (Decile 1 – 3) who participate in the Fantastic Flight education programme and experience the Above and Beyond exhibition.

To register your interest in receiving a $1000 travel grant* ... email; education@motat.org.nz * Terms and Conditions apply.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 21

FANTASTIC FLIGHT: go ABO

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OVE and BEYOND at MOTAT!

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 23

Maintaining Universities’ Raison Inaugural Chancellor’s Oration by Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC QC FASSA FAIIA to University Chancellors’ Council (UCC) 11th National Conference on University Governance, The Challenge of Change for Australian Universities, 4 October 2018 University chancellors in Australia are a rather unique species. Unlike our counterparts in the UK where the office evolved, and in most of those Commonwealth countries who have inherited and retained it, we have a serious role to play in university governance, chairing as we do our universities’ governing councils or senates – not just dressing up in gorgeous robes to utter sonorous banalities on grand occasions. In the UK by contrast, the chancellor – when not a television personality usually a royal, or some other long-past-it old buffer – rarely does much else.

At Oxford, for example, Roy Jenkins characterised his role as ‘impotence assuaged by magnificence’, while Harold Macmillan famously described the justification for his existence as being simply that ‘if you didn’t have a chancellor you couldn’t have a vice-chancellor’. True, the current Oxford Chancellor, my friend Chris Patten, is very far from being past it, and does have a public policy voice which he regularly uses to good effect, an influential role in alumni and benefactor relations, and a behind the scenes advisory voice, including chairing the committee to nominate a new vice-chancellor. But his formal role is still essentially to preside over ceremonies, and it is the vice-chancellor, not the chancellor, who actually chairs the university’s governing body. There are no doubt many senior university administrators who might wish the British system prevailed here, and some indeed who, in my experience, treat their chancellors and governing bodies as though it does: taking the view that we might have a place on their campuses, but it just hasn’t been dug yet. Whether we deserve to be regarded that way depends ultimately, I think, on how we exercise the very significant responsibilities our statutes give us. If we don’t approach the position with a reasonable degree of modesty, and above all if we don’t completely understand and respect the distinction between general strategic direction and oversight, which is our role, and that of detailed day-to-day administrative and academic management, which is the responsibility of the Vice-Chancellor and senior staff, we will deserve the mushroom treatment. Governance Principles. Developing a relationship of easy mutual respect between the key players really is at the heart of good university governance/management relations. Partly it is a matter of clearly defined boundary lines making for good neighbours. But each side of the divide also needs to strive for a symbiotic, synergistic relationship in which there are big gains to be made from working constructively together, recognising that each needs the other. The best universities, like the best football clubs, are those where all this is instinctively understood;

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n D’etre: Meeting The Challenge where respective leadership roles are acknowledged but there is a great deal of communication and consultation on issues which straddle the border line; and where achieving genuine consensus on key issues, rather than protecting decision-making turf, is seen as the normal order of things. On the question of boundary lines, it is crucial to getting right the Council/Executive and Chancellor/Vice-Chancellor relationships that everyone has a very clear understanding of each other’s proper roles. In much of the formal legislation around the country, these roles are not spelt out nearly as clearly as they could and should be. But I think with the newly revised Voluntary Code of Best Practice for the Governance of Australian Universities, recently endorsed by both the University Chancellors’ Council and Universities Australia, we now have as good an official guide as we can get, spelling out as it does three basic roles for university councils – strategic oversight; ensuring effective overall management; and ensuring responsible financial and risk management – with everything else being properly a matter for Vice-Chancellor, executive and staff. Strategic oversight encompasses approving the mission and strategic direction of the university; ensuring that values, visions and goals are turned into effective management systems; and monitoring implementation of the strategic plan (which overall plan, if not the detailed unit sub-plans, should itself be a joint product of council and management). Ensuring effective overall management encompasses appointing the vice-chancellor and monitoring his or her performance; overseeing and reviewing overall management performance; and monitoring the academic activities and performance of the university. Ensuring responsible financial and risk management encompasses approving the annual budget; approving and monitoring systems of control and accountability; overseeing and monitoring the assessment and management of risk; and ensuring compliance with legal and government policy requirements. ‘Monitoring’ in each case means just that, not micromanagement. Putting all this into effective practical operation can be tricky, but

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conceptually the lines are straightforward. Governance Challenges. In exercising our responsibilities as chancellors and council members – in particular approving the university’s mission and strategic direction, monitoring its effective implementation, and overseeing the management of reputational and other risk – we have to confront the reality that the whole Australian university system, and each of our institutions within it, currently face multiple policy challenges. The most obvious is financial sustainability, in an environment where there is insufficient support for research, and over-dependence on student fees especially from international students, with Australia sitting nearly at the bottom of the OECD rankings in overall public investment in tertiary institutions. Another challenge remains meeting the needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged: for all the progress we have made with income-contingent loans and other policy changes enabling a huge increase in overall numbers, lower-income students remain well under 20 per cent of the whole, and we still have a good way to go in getting Indigenous students into university in numbers equivalent to their share of the population. But the particular challenges for us on which I want to focus in this address go to something even more basic: the need to maintain our societal relevance for the long haul ahead, and the need in that context to deliver not just what are seen to be practically useful outcomes in terms of graduate employability, research impact and the like, but to preserve the very idea of a university as adding something uniquely valuable to our human experience. As to maintaining our relevance over the long haul ahead as educational institutions, there is a real prospect – particularly if university teaching methods do not adapt to the new information environment – of very bright students bypassing university altogether because they believe they can get all the instruction they need from online platforms, and learning by doing in entrepreneurial settings. And as to maintaining our relevance and acceptance as research institutions, there is a

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growing tendency to demand – not just from industry-funded but from government-funded research – evidence of likely impact, be it on innovation, productivity, income generation, better health and other social outcomes, better security outcomes at home and abroad, better governance, or better policymaking generally. Achieving practical outcomes in itself, of course, is no bad thing: one of the things about which I am personally most passionate at ANU, and would like to see much expanded, is publicpolicy-focused research, where we can already claim to have a national leadership role in the Crawford School and elsewhere around our campus. But so much of the research that we and other universities have always done is blue sky research; research for research’s sake; and research where even the potential for measurable real-world practical impact may be non-existent or, at best far distant, which may well be largely the case for humanities disciplines like history, philosophy, literature, classics, linguistics, art, music. And these are the areas finding external financial support ever more difficult to come by. Universities’ Value-Added. Part of the necessary response here must be to consolidate, and if necessary re-create, a sense of what is the distinctive value-added of a university. And that, in turn, must be to generate not just skills and knowledge that are immediately useful for today’s world, but the capacity for individuals to grow and adjust, and for society to create and apply new knowledge, in ways that will be relevant for the world of the future. Those of us in leadership positions in the university sector have a particular responsibility to get out that message. If that sense of distinctive value-added in preparing for the future is to be consolidated or re-created in the minds of potential students, and of industry, of government, of philanthropists, of the community generally, it has to understood and articulated by all of us much more insistently, and persistently, than most of us have been in the habit of doing. So far as education is concerned, the story must be that our value-added is not, and never has been purely vocational – even in the traditional

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professional disciplines like medicine, law and engineering. As Chris Patten has put it: ‘Universities of every sort, if in different ways, should introduce students to the joy and discipline of scholarship, to the challenge and excitement of personal intellectual achievement, to the social and historical context of knowledge and learning. Universities are not simply what you need to go through – a sociable rite of passage – before joining a graduate training program’. In a world where the content and context of employment-relevant knowledge is changing all the time, and lifelong learning is going to have to become the norm for anyone who hopes to stay employed, the role of universities must be not to teach students what to think, but how to think. That has been said often enough before, but cannot be said too often. Quoting Lord Patten again, our role is to teach students ‘to know how to frame the right questions…to search for the knowledge that will help them produce answers, to embrace complexity, to argue rationally, to question and to dare to have their own opinions.’1 In this context, we should recognise, and argue more often publicly, that one of the most valueadding things that universities can distinctively do – and which the best universities the world over certainly do – is ensure that there is real synergy and mutual reinforcement between teaching and research, with students learning from researchers who are drawing on, and hopefully communicating some of the passion they feel for, their research experience. And when it comes to research, our position must be not only to tell all the stories that can be told about how scientific and mathematical research that was driven by pure curiosity, and not perceived at the time as having any practical utility, turned out to be world changing – familiar stories like Einstein’s theory of relativity, Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, Schrodinger’s equation for quantum waves and many, many more. It must also be to recognise the worth of research which, as is undoubtedly the case with so much in the humanities, is simply intellectually stimulating, mind stretching, involving or encouraging creative and critical 1 Quotes from address to Parliamentary Committee, The Guardian, 6 February 2004; Newman Lecture, ‘The Idea of a University in the 21st Century, Pembroke College, Oxford, 24 May 2018

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thinking, encouraging or satisfying curiosity about the past or the natural world we live in, making us better understand and appreciate human character and moral sense, helping us understand why governments succeed or fail, or simply helping us better understand, and love for its own sake, great art and architecture and music and literature. Defending Autonomy. If universities are to play the role and make the distinctive contribution I have been describing, it is absolutely critical that, when it comes to determining what they teach and how they teach, and what to research and how to research, they retain the absolute autonomy of decision-making which has been at the very heart of the idea of a university, certainly in the Western tradition, for as long as universities have existed. There are bound to be internal differences of opinion as to how that autonomy is exercised – and there will always be external economic pressures to take into account and navigate in making resource allocation decisions, given that university income can only come from taxpayers, students, philanthropy, or contracted research. But no university deserving of the name can yield its independence to the agendas of others, whether those others be governments or philanthropic foundations or anyone else, when it comes to staffing and curriculum and research priority choices. This was exactly the issue with which the ANU had to wrestle earlier this year in determining how we responded to the very large grant potentially on offer – maybe as much as $60 million over eight years – from the Ramsay Foundation to establish a degree course in Western Civilisation. Because at least two other Go8 universities are now reportedly going through the same experience, I think it may be worth spending a little time recalling the dilemmas we faced, and just why our ViceChancellor and senior executive, and I and the University Council, made in May this year the collective – and, as you will all know, not uncontroversial – decision we did to break off negotiations when they were at a fairly advanced stage.2 2 For fuller explanations of ANU’s position, from which this summary is drawn, see Gareth Evans and Brian Schmidt, ‘Why ANU knocked back the Ramsay Centre course’, The Australian, 25 June 2018, and ‘ANU stood up for academic freedom in rejecting Western Civilisation degree,The Conversation, 30 June 2018

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The nub of the critique of ANU, repeated remorselessly, for weeks on end, by an army of columnist and editorial writers in the Murdoch press, is that we were intimidated into submission by a coterie of leftist staff and students who were ideologically hostile to the West and all its works and determined to prevent its intellectual and cultural traditions being taught in any kind of respectful way. Of course there are some in our academic community who do think that way, though I don’t think any of them have been as unremitting in their hostility as some Sydney University staff, in particular, have been in the press in recent weeks. But it was absolutely not that kind of thinking that had anything to do with our decision There was and remains strong support across the ANU – with our great humanities traditions – for new teaching and research capacity in this area. We remain quite attracted by the wide-ranging “great books” courses taught in some prominent American universities and colleges. And we remain wholly willing to craft a similar degree course here designed to convey understanding and respect for the great Western traditions – albeit in our own way: analytically rigorous, not triumphalist, and open to comparisons being drawn, as appropriate, with other major intellectual and cultural traditions. What we were, and remain, adamantly unwilling to do is compromise our academic autonomy, integrity and freedom in any way in pursuit of financial support. We withdrew from the Ramsay negotiations not because of any cold feet about the substance of the program, but because of our concerns about the extraordinarily prescriptive, micro-managing, controlling approach by the Ramsay Centre to its governance, particularly in relation to curriculum and staffing decisions. The ANU wanted the gift, wanted an agreement to be reached, and multiple efforts were made by our team to try to find common ground. But in the end we had so many alarm bells ringing that it was just impossible to proceed. It may be helpful for other universities who may find themselves in our position for me to list the more significant of those alarm bells, as we heard them. Hopefully there will, by now, have been some serious rethinking on the Ramsay side, and less such alarms will now be sounding. But to the extent any still are, I would Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 27

respectfully suggest to my colleagues elsewhere that they may need to look as cautiously as we did at the teeth of this particular gift horse. The first warning, to which I think we should, in retrospect, have responded more strongly right from the outset, was the extraordinarily detailed character, unprecedented in our experience, of the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) the Ramsay side wanted to conclude: of some 30 pages with another 40 pages of detailed annexures. To the extent that this document dealt with the management of a quite complex scholarship program, a significant degree of prescriptive detail was perfectly reasonable and acceptable. But to the extent it also addressed staffing and curriculum issues, the degree of micromanagement here seemed to have much less to do with necessary operational and financial clarity, and much more to do with the Ramsay Centre’s inherent lack of trust in ANU’s willingness to implement the program in accordance with the objectives to which we would sign up. A second warning bell was the flat refusal of the Ramsay side to meet our request, made after some internal consultation with our Academic Board, that the title of the proposed degree be changed from “Bachelor of Western Civilisation” to “Bachelor of Western Civilisation Studies”. The idea was to make it clear that the new degree would take its place beside – and reflect the objective, analytical approach of – our existing degree courses like “Asia-Pacific Studies”, “Latin American Studies”, “European Studies” and “Classical Studies”. But that was unacceptable. A third warning sign – which to me, when I became aware of it, was close to a knockout blow in its own right – was the Ramsay Centre’s very explicit unwillingness to commit to the principle of academic freedom. A draft sentence reading “The parties to this MOU acknowledge each other’s objectives and their shared commitment to the principles of academic freedom” came back to us with the words “their shared commitment” struck out and “ANU’s commitment” substituted! For us at ANU, academic freedom does not mean freedom to underperform, or teach without regard to the disciplines or objectives of a particular syllabus, but it does mean appointment or retention of staff on the basis of their demonstrated intellectual merit, not political or ideological preference. We became less and less confident 28 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

that the Ramsay side understood that. A fourth concern, relevant in this context, was the proposal from the Ramsay CEO, which emerged late in the discussions, that Ramsay representatives be able to sit in on classes to monitor implementation of the program. Our negotiating team did not accept that at any stage of the discussions, although they had agreed to a formal annual review of the program (in which context they did use the expression “health checks”, familiar to universities in the context of TEQSA reviews). What dramatically compounded all these kinds of concerns was the appearance online in Quadrant in early April of a piece by Ramsay Centre Board member, and prime initiator of the whole Western Civilisation project, Tony Abbott, which not only made clear that his approach to the topic was triumphalist rather than analytic (wanting a program that was “not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it”) – a shoal that might have been navigable – but asserted that, for the ANU, “A management committee including the Ramsay CEO and also its academic director will make staffing and curriculum decisions”. In this context, the provision in the draft MOU for a “partnership management committee”, which had previously seemed to the negotiating team a fairly innocuous mechanism for coordinating the financial and other aspects of the gift, took on a much more troubling aspect. We had no problem with the Ramsay Centre having a voice in curriculum design or in staff appointments. But only a voice, not a controlling influence. With two persons from each side on a four-person committee, the Ramsay side would have had an effective veto over all operational decisions. A further concern on the ANU side, which became much more acute after we read the Abbott article, was in the context of the proposed Ramsay gift being not a capital endowment, but recurrent funding up for renewal in eight years. A time-limited gift is not in itself problematic. But building a major program involving the hiring of a dozen new staff, and then being held hostage to its continuation by a donor whose most senior and influential figures appear to have manifestly different views to ours about university autonomy and academic freedom, is not a happy position for any university to be in.

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Confronted with the Abbott article, and after carefully reviewing all the clauses of the draft MOU, the Vice-Chancellor and I agreed that he would ask the Ramsay Centre’s Board, through its chairman John Howard, to clarify that ANU’s autonomy in implementing agreed objectives would be completely respected, and that we would retain complete control over curriculum and staffing decisions, making clear that negotiations could not continue until such assurances had been received. Our discussions with Mr Howard did not, unfortunately, bear the fruit we had hoped. We did not receive any reply giving us any cause to believe that the MOU, with all its overreach – and all the manifest lack of trust in ANU’s commitment to implementing the new program in good faith that it represented – would be fundamentally revised. And so we terminated the negotiations. At the same time we made clear – and this is still the case – that if the Ramsay Centre and its Board are prepared to understand and respect the concept of university autonomy, our door is open. But we are not holding our breath. Defending Free Speech. There is one remaining theme I want to address going to the distinctive value of our universities –viz, their role in generating the skills and knowledge that will be not just for today’s world but tomorrow’s – and going again to our role as university leaders in preserving the very idea of a university as adding something uniquely valuable to our human experience. It goes further than insisting on university autonomy, as critical as I hope I have made clear that is. It is about what we do with that autonomy. And I suggest that what should be an absolute priority in this respect is maintaining totally intact, with no qualifications whatever, the traditional idea of the university as the home of free speech, of the clash of ideas, of unconstrained argument and debate. A disconcerting development in the United States in recent years, on even traditionally very liberal campuses like Yale, Chicago and Berkeley is an attempt by some students and staff to shut down argument and debate, on the basis that people should not be exposed to ideas with which they strongly disagree. And we are beginning to see some early signs in Australia of this same phenomenon, with the Universities of Western Australia and Sydney in particular, having had some well-publicised issues in this

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respect recently, with the Van Meter and Bettina Arndt cases. We are hearing about “no-platforming” – disinviting or shouting down visiting speakers espousing various heresies; about the need for “trigger warnings” – alerting students to potentially upsetting racially, politically or gender sensitive themes they may be about to encounter in class discussion or assigned texts; and, most disconcerting of all, the need for “safe spaces”, or “safe learning environments”, where students can be completely insulated from anything that may assault their sense of what is moral and appropriate. Maybe the emergence of these issues on university campuses is just a reflection of changing wider societal norms, including a welcome new sensitivity about issues on which far too many people were grossly insensitive in the past. But if welcome sensitivity is carried to the point of extreme timidity about ever possibly offending anyone, anywhere at any time, we run a serious risk of forgetting the core rationale of free speech for which people have been arguing and fighting for centuries: it is only through the largely unconstrained clash of ideas, some of which are bound to offend someone, that the truth can ever emerge; it is only through ideas and arguments and assertions being contested that we can ever start understanding the difference between reason and unreason. “No platforming” and “safe spaces” are highly problematic anywhere, but there are some contexts in which they are absurd to the point of indefensibility. I would have thought writers festivals were one such context – but the Brisbane Writers Festival has proved me wrong this year with its decision to disinvite Bob Carr and Germaine Greer because it feared their ideas (on Israel and China in the case of Carr; and on rape, as muddled as her ideas actually seemed to be, in the case of Greer) would generate too much controversy. I hope – and if I prayed, I would pray – that our universities never become susceptible to the safe-spaces/no-platforming/trigger-warning disease. Maybe I’m just an unreconstructed child of the 1960s, when I and other student activists were not only not demanding protection from offence but devoted to causing it, through exercising to its untrammelled full our right to free speech about just about everything. In 1964, visiting the US on a State Department-sponsored

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program designed to civilise Asian region student leaders, I’m afraid I dismayed my hosts by sitting in on, and being profoundly moved by, some of the famous Free Speech Movement protests at Berkeley that were triggered by the then UC administration’s ban on handing out antiwar literature. And I have to say I share a little of the sentimental bemusement of a commentator I read the other day who said of radical students at Columbia University that “In just over a generation they’ve moved from marching with Black Panthers to petting therapy Labradors called Mollie”.3 But I strongly believe that there are principles of really quite timeless significance here, on which university administrators and governing bodies simply must take a stand. I think we should also take a clear and common stand on the question which has arisen very recently about who should pay for any greater than normal security precautions that may need to be taken in the context of campus visits by particularly controversial speakers. At ANU, we have taken the view that if we are serious about free speech – which must mean allowing views we might find abhorrent to be heard – it would be unconscionable to make either those sponsoring the speech, or those wanting to protest against it, to pay for their exercising their rights. Of course we would prefer to be spending our scarce resources more productively, but bearing these precautionary costs ourselves, on the likely very rare occasions when they should ever become necessary, seems to us just to come with the territory. Of course there have always been well understood and perfectly acceptable limits on free speech, properly enforced on university campuses as anywhere else, when it comes to causing not just offence or insult but definable harm – including outright incitement of racial hatred, or gender or political violence, intimidation or humiliation. Of course, again, it may just be an exercise in civility, not political correctness run riot, for lecturers about to address topics like the sociology of sex abuse to alert their students to potentially disturbing content. And of course it has also been long common, and perfectly uncontroversial, to establish campus centres where particular ethnic and religious minority students, when they feel the need for time out, can be physically

inconspicuous and socially comfortable. But the bottom line seems to me, and I hope to you, to be this. Learning to live with uncomfortable ideas, and responding to them appropriately, is part of the business of growing up. How can anyone cope with the world if sheltered from awareness of any views he or she does not already hold? Lines have to be drawn, and administrators’ spines stiffened, against manifestly unconscionable demands for protection against ideas and arguments claimed to be offensive. If they are not, universities will lose their whole raison d’etre. And keeping alive the great tradition of our universities – and the absolute centrality in that tradition of both untrammelled autonomy and untrammelled freedom of speech – is a cause to which university chancellors, and everyone else in a leadership position in our universities, should be prepared to go to the barricades. Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC QC FASSA FAIIA has been Chancellor since 2010, and is an Honorary Professorial Fellow, at the Australian National University. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments from 1983-96, in the posts of Attorney General, Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Transport and Communications and - from 1988-96 - Foreign Minister. From 2000 to 2009 he was President and CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. He has written or edited, singly or jointly, 13 books – including Incorrigible Optimist: A Political Memoir (MUP 2017), Nuclear Weapons: The State of Play (ANU 2015), Inside the HawkeKeating Government: A Cabinet Diary (MUP 2014) and The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All (Brookings Institution, 2009). He has a number of national and international awards, including from the governments of Chile and South Africa, and was cited by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011 as one of the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’ for that year. He was awarded the 2010 Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Freedom from Fear prize for his pioneering work on the Responsibility to Protect concept and his contributions to conflict prevention and resolution, arms control and disarmament.

3 Josh Glancy, ‘Rise of the snowflake generation’, Weekend Australian, 8-9 September 2018

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Golden Dragon’s Easy Stir Fry Sauces

A successful stir fry can be all about the right sauce. There’s no need to the head to the supermarket for a pre-made sauce, as with the help of some store cupboard staples you can easily create your own. The chefs at Golden Dragon Colindale have revealed their suggestions for how to make some classic Chinese sauces.

dumplings; Crispy bean curd rolls; Crab meat and prawn dumpling in soup; and King prawn cheung fun. In addition to the traditional à la carte menu which is served all day, Golden Dragon is renowned for its ever-popular traditional Chinese hot pots, which encompass a hot soup, used to cook garnishing ingredients at the table.

Satay Sauce Crunchy peanut butter, light soy sauce, garlic and chilli will create a great satay sauce. Be flexible with quantities but 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter and 1 tbsp soy sauce will be a good basis, then add garlic, chilli and sugar to taste. Soy, Ginger & Garlic Sauce A simple soy-based sauce can be a great accompaniment to both beef and vegetable noodles. Dark soy sauce mixed with finely chopped ginger and minced garlic works particularly well. A dash of sesame oil will lift the sauce to add a great toasty flavour. Sweet & Sour Sauce Despite being a favourite of many, people rarely make sweet & sour sauce at home. Combine the sour ingredients (soy sauce and rice vinegar) with the sweet ingredients (tinned pineapple chunks, tomato ketchup and sugar). The balance between sweet and sour is very important, so taste as you go. Top tip: if the sauce is looking a little thin, add a teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in water to the sauce and within minutes it should begin to thicken. Alternatively, if it is too thick add a tablespoon of hot water. Golden Dragon serves authentic dim sum dishes from Noon until 5pm, which is the traditional time to enjoy dim sum in China. Culinary delights include Char Siu pork bun; Prawn and chive

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The popular Chinatown establishment, Golden Dragon Restaurant opened its flagship in Colindale, North London in summer 2017. The 300 cover restaurant features classic Hong Kong style décor and specialises in dim sum by day and Cantonese and Pekinese á la carte in the evening. The Colindale hotspot is perfect for large groups and traditional Chinese-style banqueting, as well as couples seeking a more intimate experience. Golden Dragon, 399 Edgware Road, Colindale, NW9 0FH For reservations, please call: 0208 2058333 http://gdlondon.co.uk/ Twitter and Instagram: @GoldenDragon_UK

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 31

Math education programme brings Stanfo A service learning model created at Stanford expands to other universities. In a bright preschool classroom shaped like Noah’s Ark, two Stanford undergraduates take their young charges out onto the “bow” of the ship. It’s time for a little playful math in the sunshine, and these young learners are clearly excited. The Stanford tutors are enrolled in Preschool Counts, a service learning program that combines rigorous coursework with real-world experience engaging young children from East Palo Alto in math activities. Professor Deborah Stipek, former dean of Stanford Graduate School of Education and current faculty director of the Haas Center for Public Service, started Preschool Counts in 2013 as a way to give undergraduates an opportunity to learn about child development and explore teaching while providing valuable support to local preschoolers. The program, designed to serve as a model for universities across the country, has been implemented at UCLA and San Francisco State University. Why early math? “Literacy has gotten a lot of attention in recent years,” said Stipek, who also chairs Development and Research in Early Math Education, a network of scholars who seek to advance early childhood math teaching and learning. “But research shows

that young children’s understanding of basic math concepts is a strong predictor of later academic success.” Stipek, the Judy Koch Professor of Education, sees access to quality early math experiences as a matter of equity and key to narrowing the opportunity gap. For Stanford students enrolled in Preschool Counts, the coursework challenges them to consider questions of equity and opportunity while also equipping them for four to six hours each week in the classroom, where their work includes assessing children’s understanding and creating lesson plans. Their interactions with the children make the academic learning more nuanced and meaningful, Stipek said. An emphasis on partnership Preschool Counts is built on a model of service learning that emphasizes nurturing community partnerships and valuing reciprocity, humility, and respect for diversity. That means getting to know the teachers and school staff and supporting their goals for their students. Renee Scott, program director for Early Education at the Haas Center, said the quality of the partnership is key to the success of Preschool Counts. Once students have completed the course, they can apply to be student leaders, who then mentor the tutors and learn how to build community partnerships. “Essentially they are learning what it means to be a part of a nonprofit organization and how to maintain a partnership. Our leaders and our tutors are learning and the teachers recognize it—it’s a two-way relationship.” St. Elizabeth Seton School Preschool Director Crystal Surita agrees. “The Preschool Counts tutors are amazing. They are positive, enthusiastic and patient with the children. I noticed the reservations they Cheyenne Poston, ’18 (center), and Jiamin Huang, ’19, work with their Preschool Counts students on activities exploring spatial relations at St. Elizabeth Seton School in Palo Alto. (Photo: Rod Searcey)

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ord students into the preschool classroom By Jeannie Crumly Cole had at the beginning of the program and notice their growth as well.”

the course, adapted to meet the needs of their own students and community partners.

And, importantly, Surita sees the value for the children, many of whom enter school without basic math skills. “It has been amazing to see the growth of the children. At the beginning of the school year, many were unable to rote count, count objects 1:1, recall their count and record. As the program takes its course, I notice the confidence they have. They show understanding and are always excited to go with their tutors.”

In 2017, UCLA launched the course as part of its Department of Education minor. Much like at Stanford, the course provides an opportunity for undergraduates to learn about mathematics teaching, learning and inequality as they work with young children. UCLA education Professor Megan Franke, who teaches the course, said it has provided a learning experience for undergraduates, teachers and preschoolers alike. “It’s been exciting to see them all learning together and discovering how much math young children can do.”

The student experience Scott says that many Stanford students come into the program with an interest in education and improving children’s lives, especially in marginalized communities. Once in the program, she said, they often cite the sheer joy of being with young children as what makes them love the experience. Emma Poplack, ’18, took the course as a freshman and served as a leader for her remaining three years at Stanford. “I loved spending time with the kids—getting off campus and out of the Stanford mindset. Getting to spend time with little kids is so energizing yet grounding.” Students also say they develop a deep respect for what preschool teachers do, and for the complexities of teaching young children. “I find tutoring to be an intellectual challenge,” said Laura Fraher, ’20. “I enjoy changing my focus to how my student is thinking about the math.” Poplack credits Preschool Counts with altering her plans for the future. “The class was the first time I had learned about education inequity and policy,” she said. “I was inspired to learn and do more.” She added a minor in education to her international relations major and hopes to combine the two interests in her work after graduation. Expanding the model One of Stipek’s goals in creating Preschool Counts was to test a service-learning model that could be implemented at universities across the country. UCLA and San Francisco State now offer

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At San Francisco State, the course is part of teacher preparation. Linda Platas, associate chair of the Child and Adolescent Development Department at SFSU, says Preschool Counts has had a significant impact on her students, especially in helping them recognize and address their own fears of math in order to become confident math teachers. She added that the response from SFSU community partners has been so positive that the program has expanded significantly in the short period of time since its launch. “We started with a small handful of preschool classrooms two years ago,” she said. “Not only did those teachers want to continue, but other teachers started contacting us to see if we could bring the program to their classrooms as well. This year we were in 19 schools.” The rapid expansion of the program and its popularity with college students and community partners alike speaks to Stipek’s goal of making the program easy to implement in a variety of contexts. “That’s the beauty of this program,” she said. “The core concept—college-level teaching combined with community service—is very portable and adaptable, and the content is based on solid research.” Preschool Counts is made possible by a grant from the Dhanam Foundation.

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 33

Are We Prepped for Superintelligence

“If we are talking primary school, AI is probably moving too fast currently for it to make sense to try to integrate specific hot new ideas into the curriculum. But providing a broader base of computer science education and some opportunity to try programming sounds like a good idea.” Nick Bostrom

In nearly every industry, smart machines have edged their way into our lives. Whether their longer term impact will be beneficial to our lives (curing diseases, reversing climate change, eradicating food shortages) or whether their impact will shatter our lives (automate our jobs, threaten our personal security, increase inequality), we can be pretty sure that we are dealing with an intelligence that is radically different.

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If we are to flourish as a species based on what we know now of the Superintelligence (intellect much smarter than the human brains in all fields) still in development, we’re going to need a good dose of humility and great deal of preparation. What can our education systems do now?

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C. M. Rubin

Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom is a Professor at Oxford University and is a founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute — an institute that studies the future of the human species. At the institute, Bostrom identifies threats to the human species and how to reduce the possibilities or completely prevent such events from occurring. He emphasizes that “superintelligent AI should be developed only for the benefit of all of humanity and in the service of widely shared ethical ideals.”

Bostrom, who directs the Governance of Artificial Intelligence Program, is the author of some 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (Routledge, 2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (ed., OUP, 2008), Human Enhancement (ed., OUP, 2009), and Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (OUP, 2014), a New York Times bestseller. He joins us in The Global Search for Education today to talk about the impact of AI in the future of education.

“Things in 2050 are difficult to predict because we don’t know whether machine superintelligence will have happened by then. If it has, then the world could have been very profoundly transformed indeed.” — Nick Bostrom

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 35

What role do you think AI should play in future schools in terms of the learning process as well as curriculum offerings?

doesn’t require fancy machine learning to implement; so I don’t expect current-level AI capabilities to make much difference there.

If we are talking primary school, AI is probably moving too fast currently for it to make sense to try to integrate specific hot new ideas into the curriculum. But providing a broader base of computer science education and some opportunity to try programming sounds like a good idea. From the point of view of teaching general problem solving skills to kids, basic concepts from programming and some good old-fashioned AI techniques offer more value than the latest neural network stuff.

What do you think will be the biggest differences for students graduating from school in 2050 to those who graduated this year? How much will the world their older peers lived in have changed, including the kinds of work opportunities they might be looking at?

AI could also contribute to the learning process by making it possible to fine-tune teaching materials and exercises to the attributes of the learner. However, I think there is much unpicked low-hanging fruit (in, say, online learning) that

Things in 2050 are difficult to predict because we don’t know whether machine superintelligence will have happened by then. If it has, then the world could have been very profoundly transformed indeed. If not, then maybe as a baseline we should expect about the same amount of change that has taken place between 1986 and 2018.

“As the world gets richer, it seems we should focus less on making money and more on using our historically unprecedented wealth in ways that create value.” — Nick Bostrom

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Given all the changes that AI is bringing to our world, what other kinds of things do you believe parents and teachers should be focusing on to ensure kids can flourish in their new world? Maybe having fun and being able to have meaningful, fulfilling leisure? As the world gets richer, it seems we should focus less on making money and more on using our historically unprecedented wealth in ways that create value. This could change if the technological frontier moves in ways that increase the marginal utility of money, for example if expensive but effective forms of life extension became available.

widely shared ethical ideals, is worth emphasizing. I think we also need to start moving the idea that digital minds can have varying degrees of moral status into the Overton window.

What are the tips you would give the next generation about being future ready to co-exist with AI? Practice cosmic humility. Thank you, Nick.

Your research has also focused on ethics and policy. What do you believe are the top ethical issues in AI that humanity needs to focus on?

All Photos are courtesy of CMRubinWorld

The common good principle, that super intelligent AI should be developed only for the benefit of all of humanity and in the service of

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C. M. Rubin and Nick Bostrom

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 37

38 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

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Max Einstein The Genius Experiment James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein Published Young Arrow... Penguin RRP PB$18.99 N.Z. HB $30.00 N.Z.

“If you’re interested in science, mysteries, or courageous heroines, this is a must read” Chelsea Clinton

The back cover says it all... as well as the quote above from Chelsea Clinton. This is over 300 pages of fast paced enjoyable thoughtful readability, an inspiring book asking you to think as you keep up with the adventures of Max whose favourite celebrity is Albert Einstein. That last fact should be enough to indicate that this is not a straight forward run of the mill story book. Max is a genius and the adventures solving problems across the world, are very much based on in-depth knowledge and

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thinking... employing STEM skills sure to keep any reader enthralled and on their toes from start to finish in this action packed book. Author James Patterson and the Albert Einstein Archives have partnered to create this first of a three book series... the first and only line of children’s books to bear the archive’s official seal. I believe they will develop a dedicated following.. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Well worth getting as a gift or as an excellent addition for a library.

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 39

Supporting London’s bastard children

Workhouse Women in St. Giles’s Church by Charles Holroyd. ©Trustees of the British Museum

Cambridge historian uncovers new evidence of 18th and 19th century London’s ‘Child Support Agency’ A new book, Unmarried Motherhood in the Metropolis: 1700-1850, by Cambridge historian Dr Samantha Williams, reveals, using London’s few surviving ‘bastardy books’, how the parishes of Lambeth, Southwark and Chelsea pursued the fathers of illegitimate babies.

It also reveals the lengths some errant fathers went to in order to escape not only their moral and financial obligations, but the clutches of parish constables and the feared houses of correction. Dr Williams’ research uncovers how inefficient London’s parishes were at extracting payment from the fathers of bastard children compared to other areas of the United Kingdom. Surviving records indicate that only 20 per cent of unmarried fathers paid for their illegitimate Returns to her Parents in Misery & Distress published by J Hinton, 1805. A young woman in rags, returning wretched to her parents, standing on the right with her hands clasped in pleading, while her illegitimate son embraces his grandmother, and the couple sit looking astonished. ©Trustees of the British Museum

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By Stuart Roberts children in Britain and Europe’s largest city – compared with around 80 per cent in the West Riding of Yorkshire, for example. However, even where fathers did not pay, metropolitan parishes continued to support illegitimate children, at times until they were 15 years old and at a relatively high weekly amount. Dr Williams, a lecturer at Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), spent ten years researching the history of bastardy and poor law provision for the capital’s ‘fallen women’ and discovered that in Lambeth, a fifth of all fathers of illegitimate children were listed as ‘Titled/ Gentlemen’ – despite making up only 7 per cent of that parish’s population at the time. Other fathers were generally fellow servants or in working-class occupations. Her research has also unearthed evidence of deep gender inequality in the law in the severity of punishments handed out to unmarried mothers and fathers with women sentenced, on average, to a year’s hard labour beating hemp for having children out of wedlock, compared to only three months’ imprisonment for men. However, the proportion of unmarried mothers and fathers sent to jail fell significantly until punishment was relatively rare.

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“We already know a lot about what women’s sex lives were like during this period of history: who the fathers of their children were, how many times they had sex – but what we didn’t really know was did the fathers pay for their offspring? “Did these women end up in the workhouse? What the archives show is that there was a very early version of the Child Support Agency in place in all towns and villages. “Bastardy books must have existed in many parishes, but very few now survive from the hundreds of parishes in and around London – at a time when illegitimacy was very high. “The numbers of illegitimate children goes up and up after the Restoration from 16501850. Of all first births, half were pregnant brides and a quarter were illegitimate. “It has always been the case that women were left holding the baby, and we know women and children went into the workhouses, but without looking at the bastardy examination records, you don’t know if those children were illegitimate or not.” Dr Samantha Williams The Poor Law of 1576 formed the basis of English bastardy laws. Its purpose was to punish a

Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 41

bastard child’s mother and putative father, and to relieve the parish from the cost of supporting the child.

babies ending up in houses of correction alongside their mothers to avoid the parish having to pay for a wet or dry nurse.

The poor, unlike the rich, sometimes ended up in prison for having children out of wedlock – with

Whether they went to the house of correction or not, illegitimate children were even more at risk

Six men stand on a treadmill, ascending its revolving and endless stair under a tiled pent-house roof; all hold a horizontal bar. On the extreme left is Theodore Hook, the man responsible for the ‘Berners Street Hoax’. ©Trustees of the British Museum

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from the fearful rates of infant mortality. Children born outside of marriage were around twice as likely to die as those born to married parents –a trend that continued until at least the early 20 th century. “The records show that although parish constables were actually quite skilled

at finding fathers in the first place, they were really pretty bad at getting the money out of fathers in London,” added Williams. “Men could disappear easily, they could join the navy – I even came across one case where one man fathered five illegitimate children - then disappeared off to America and left them all. “Lots of men defaulted on payments and ran away, but for those who remained, arrest warrants were issued and many were sent to prison to see if they could be squeezed. Many were

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 43

literally put on the treadmill, most infamously at Brixton’s House of Correction.” In 1824 David Byron was committed to the house of correction in Brixton for refusal to pay the bastardy expenses for his child Alfred with Susannah Turell. But he ‘got sick of the mill & paid the bill’. However, he fled to America leaving

five illegitimate children behind him. In January 1720, a Benjamin Lucas was ‘charged on oath & his own confession of begetting Eliz: Valsan with child of a bastard child which was born in the hamlet of Spittle Fields… & refusing to give sufficient security.’ In St. Margaret, Westminster, Martha Biggs was

You’ve Crack’d my Pipkin Sr: said she so Marry me & Mend it, 1773. Social satire: a pregnant young woman gesturing at a cracked pitcher she holds at her waist and accusing a man who starts up in surprise and dismay. ©Trustees of the British Museum

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A grotesquely hideous man, lean and elderly, addressing a comely young woman who stands demurely, her pose accentuating her pregnancy. Print made by James Gillray. ©Trustees of the British Museum given ten shillings for clothing her child, surprisingly named Spriggs Biggs, when they both left the workhouse. One winter’s day in November of 1792, Mary Roberts was brought before a London magistrate to be examined as to her parish of settlement. Mary had been born in St. Helen’s, Abingdon, but had travelled to London and had earned a new parish of settlement by dint of three years’ service with Mr Edwards of Danvers of Chelsea. She was visibly pregnant and told the justice that the father was Jonathan Johnson. Nine days later, Mary entered St. Luke’s workhouse on being ‘With child’ and stayed for twelve days before she ‘Went Out at her Own Request’. The workhouse committee agreed to give her 3s. 6d. per week but she was back a month later; the reason for admission recorded as ‘Faind in Labour’. It seems that this was a false start and a month later her stillborn baby was born in the workhouse.

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After four weeks ‘lying-in’, the workhouse committee ordered her out ‘her month being up’, with two shillings. It is likely that she returned to domestic service, like so many women in her circumstances. Dr Williams also uses the book to explore how the idea of ‘shame’ has frequently been associated with unmarried motherhood, noting that mothers and their illegitimate children were disgraced, abandoned and cast out by society, even by their own families, until the 1960s. Attitudes towards the inherent shame of bearing illegitimate children waxed and waned over time, with post-Restoration attitudes softening as Britain underwent something of a sexual revolution in the late 1600s and early 1700s (the Foundling Hospital opening its doors in 1739). However, societal response to illegitimacy began to harden once more in the early 19 th century. The pursuit of errant fathers as a means of deflating local taxes was in place for centuries Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 45

and until 1834, a father of illegitimate children was still responsible for paying for upkeep even if the mother married another man. Williams suggests this negativity towards unmarried mothers grew in the years between the publication of Thomas Malthus’ Essay(1798) and the Poor Law Commission of 1832. Malthus was famously critical of support for unmarried mothers alongside many other aspects of the 18 th and 19 th century ‘welfare state’ – and his views were profoundly influential on the Poor Law Commissioners who from the 1830s onwards made the provision of relief to poor, unmarried mothers much harder to come by.

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“From the 1830s many more women went into workhouses and it was much harder to get relief. Conservative voices wanted to radically cut the amount of welfare and what it cost. “If they did provide help, it was help with a heavy dollop of shame and reform.”

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“Unwed women and their children were the casualties of a metropolitan sexual culture and a frequently unsympathetic welfare system. “They faced very significant difficulties in their pregnancies, during childbirth and in raising their children, not the least in the difficulties many women encountered in terms of gaining financial support from the fathers of their children.” Dr Samantha Williams Our appreciation to Stuart Roberts and Dr Samantha Williams. Also to the Trustees of the British Museum.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 47

Becoming Flexible and Adapt World: The Benefits of Accele Last year, Cathy Davidson, an awardwinning professor from the City University of New York (CUNY), published a provocative book called The New Education. In this book, Davidson argues that today’s universities are stuck in the past. She claims that to meet the needs of today’s rapidly changing employment environment, higher education must fundamentally transforms the way it prepares students for their careers. Long gone are the days when college grads could jump into lifelong careers after completing a focused, specialized program of study. Today, college graduates can expect to experience several major career changes during their lifetimes, and to witness technological innovations that produce new jobs while at the same time making other skills obsolete. Rather than prepare university students for a lifelong

career, Davidson argues, universities must prepare students to be flexible, collaborative, skilled in problem-solving, and adaptable to quickly learning new, relevant skills. Here at Cheetah Learning, we agree this this holds true for professional education, too. The secret to keeping up with the fast-paced changes in any industry is to learn how to learn new knowledge and skills faster. This is what we call “accelerated learning.” Accelerated learning refers to the practices, habits, and techniques that enable you to assimilate new information quickly and retain it for longer than with traditional learning approaches. Most importantly, accelerated learning helps you overcome two major challenges unique to today’s ever-accelerating world: the rapid growth of innovation, and the increasing number of technological distractions in our lives. The first challenge professionals face in a fasterpaced world is the rapid growth in the rate of innovation. Did you know the quantity of scientific innovations doubles every nine years? What this means is that the nature of the work we do is also evolving rapidly across most industries. While in earlier eras professionals could spend a long time gaining specific education and job skills to help them prepare for a lifelong career at one company, today, most people change careers at least five to ten times over the course of their life. To adapt to and thrive in a career with ever-shifting job responsibilities and required skills, it is now essential to be able to learn and assimilate new information quickly. Learning faster also allows us to make better decisions at work. When we speed up our ability to make sense of and respond to new

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table in a Rapidly-Changing erated Learning

By Michelle LaBrosse,CCPM, PMP®, PMI-ACP, RYT,

information and situations, we are able to make decisions based on more well-rounded and thoroughly-processed information. For example - the accelerated learning technique of mindmapping allows us to see connections across ideas, which improves our ability to take a wider range of variables into account when we make decisions in our careers. The second challenge professionals face in today’s accelerating world is the proliferation of distracting technologies in all parts of our lives: texting, social media, email, chat, and other modes of instantaneous communication. The New York Times, for instance, today produces as much information in one day as people experienced their entire lifetimes just 200 years ago. However, this does not mean that our brains are now able to process this quantity of information. This information overload then leads us to become distracted by our many communication technologies - which then prevents us from engaging in meaningful, focused learning.

Beyond information overload, use of instantaneous communication technologies activates the limbic brain (leading to more emotional and impulsive decision-making), creates addictive behaviors relating to technology use, decreases the ability to focus, and impairs higher-order thinking. Accelerated learning techniques give people tools to avoid distractions and focus intently on the task at hand - still a useful skill in today’s fast-paced work environment. To read more about the benefits of accelerated learning and how Cheetah Learning incorporates this into their online and classroom courses, check out www.cheetahlearning.com. Cheetah Learning’s online Certified Accelerated Learner program helps people reach a level of peak performance in their careers. We have validated the techniques that students master in the Certified Accelerated Learning program over the past two decades, and with over 70,000 students, through award-winning programs in Project Management, negotiations, and accelerated exam preparation.

About the Author:

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is an entrepreneurial

powerhouse with a penchant for making success easy, fun, and fast. She is the founder of Cheetah Learning, the author of the Cheetah Success Series, and a prolific blogger whose mission is to bring Project Management to the masses. Cheetah Learning is a virtual company with 100 employees, contractors, and licensees worldwide. To date, more than 50,000 people have become “Cheetahs” using Cheetah Learning’s innovative

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Project Management and accelerated learning techniques. Honored by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Cheetah Learning was named Professional Development Provider of the Year at the 2008 PMI® Global Congress. A dynamic keynote speaker and industry thought leader, Michelle is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Michelle also developed the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program based on MyersBriggs Type Indicator personality profiling to help students master how to use their unique strengths for learn is recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 49

New Zealand School of Dance NEWS:The International Dance School Directors’ Committee to Standardise Audition Procedures (“C-SAP”) Over twenty international ballet companies alongside professional ballet schools endorse guidelines for pre-selection for auditions. The International Dance School Directors’ Committee to Standardise Audition Procedures (“C-SAP”) is excited to announce the creation of a standard set of guidelines for pre-selection for auditions. In response to concerns over varied and conflicting audition requirements being requested of graduating students, Artistic Directors of a number of professional dance schools sought to explore the possibility of creating a standard set of guidelines for preselection for auditions. With this goal in mind, they created C-SAP. In consultation with companies, this committee created guidelines to address the needs of students and companies. These guidelines, now known as the International Audition PreSelection Guidelines or IAP Guidelines, have been endorsed by over twenty international professional ballet companies, as well as a growing number of professional ballet schools. Organisations endorsing the IAP Guidelines agree to use them for their pre-selection process and to publish them on their websites. The IAP Guidelines stipulate the following for an audition: video, CV, headshot and dance photos. The video content is defined and includes restrictions on technical editing, length of various parts of the video, footwear, and attire. The guidelines also set out the order in which the various parts of the video are to appear. By standardising the contents of an application for pre-selection for an audition, the graduating student is able to make one video that will serve for all applications to endorsing companies and professional schools post-graduation programs. 50 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

To learn more about the IAP Guidelines, please visit www.iapguidelines.squarespace.com Endorsing Organisations American Ballet Theatre; The Australian Ballet; Ballet Arizona; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Boston Ballet; Dutch National Ballet; Finnish National Ballet; Houston Ballet; Miami City Ballet; Nashville Ballet; National Ballet of Canada; Nevada Ballet Theatre; Northern Ballet; Pacific Northwest Ballet; Queensland Ballet; The Royal Ballet; The Royal Danish Ballet; Royal New Zealand Ballet; Royal Winnipeg Ballet; San Francisco Ballet; Semperoper Ballet; Washington Ballet; Zurich Ballet Boston Ballet School; Canada’s National Ballet School; New Zealand School of Dance; Palucca University of Dance Dresden; Queensland Ballet Academy; School of American Ballet The committee would like to encourage other organisations to add their names to the list of organisations that have endorsed this initiative and can do so by contacting any of the members of the committee. Committee members: Jason Beechey, Rector, Palucca University of Dance, Dresden, Germany; Cheryl Belkin Epstein, Developer of Creative Resources and Ballet Historian, Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto, Canada; Mavis Staines, Artistic Director and CEO, Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto, Canada; Margaret Tracey, Director, Boston Ballet School, Boston, U.S.A.; Garry Trinder, Director, New Zealand School of Dance, Wellington, New Zealand.

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Tirion Law Lok Huen, Yuri Marques da Silva photographed by Stephen Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Court.

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 51

TERM 4 A

Sending Love - Christmas 2018 Sending Love NZ <sendyourlovenz@gmail.com> Hi All,

I hope you are well. Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it crazy how fast time passes! We are already a few days away from October 2018 - almost a year since the first cards were written that created such an impact on peoples lives. Who would have known that one childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s card could multiply into 32,000 within weeks - or the impact that words and pictures could create; the tears of joy that followed could have filled buckets! It is happening again this year; only with the intent and hope that we can reach a wider breadth of those who may feel lonely at Christmas time. Last year we served rest homes and elderly - this year I am ambitious and committed that we can reach young and older; both in residential care and those living in the community. But I need your help... please see below the key asks. Please feel free to share this e-mail as well as the website: www.sendinglove.co.nz and the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/499101030445643/ FYI - the cut-off date for cards this year will be slightly earlier, to allow cards to be sorted and distributed in time - 2018 card cut-off is 9th December. Card Drop Boxes Drop boxes can be set-up anytime from now. Please complete the attached form and return to this e-mail address with a picture of your drop box. It will then be added to a website as a place people can locally drop cards to.

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ACTIVITY

Writing Cards Please spread the word to those in your realm to start thinking about writing cards - we need lots (and lots) to give to all those who need it this year. If you do not have a local drop box set-up near you, cards can be sent to: PO Box 90701, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142 anytime from now. Volunteering We are seeking key volunteers to support with each area across NZ - if you would like to be the regional coordinator in your area, please get in touch If you would like to get involved on a less time consuming scale - I will be sending out a form in the coming few weeks to capture your details Feedback & Suggestions This is a NZ thing - it is not something that belongs to a person, in fact, I have point blank made it clear to media that this is not an organisation, or a charity - it is a platform for all to give in a very basic and human way If you have ideas / thoughts / suggestions - please speak up; this belongs to me as much as it does you Not ALL things may be feasible in the short-term this year; but everything will be heard and implemented where it adds value and can be done with available time from me and volunteers Thanks so much for your continued support in enabling this to happen; to get the joy from so many hearts into the hearts that need it most. Much love

Hannah

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 53

Computer Component And Circuit B I first had my artworks shared on Bored Panda three years ago with my single Creatures and Insects, like the Fan Winged Computer Bug. My Computer Bugs have slowly evolved and have grown into larger, entwined, MultiBug Mandalas. The mandala shape is used because of its beauty and spiritual symbolism portraying our dependence on computer technology in the modern world as almost a kind of ‘worship’ of technology. The circular shape of the mandala with all the Insects and Bugs entwined with one another also signifies the inter-dependent

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nature of all living things on Earth. My Insect Mandalas are both a celebration of the natural world but also a celebration of mankind’s ingenuity and the decades of hard work that has created today’s digital technologies. Most importantly, I hope that my Computer Bug and Insect artworks help to highlight the dangers of e-waste and planned obsolescence to our natural environments. I like to see my Insect Mandalas as an antidote to Damien Hirst’s ‘Entomology Mandalas’ in which thousands of real insects are used to create his art.

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Board Insect Mandalas

Julie Alice Chappell

boredpanda.com

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 55

This is what inspired the Colourful Mandala of Ladybirds and X-Box Butterflies. Of course, the multi-coloured buttons on the X-Box controls also had a part in the pieces inspiration.

There are 60 species of Butterfly in Britain. I am working on a Mandala to include all sixty but for now these twelve fairly well known species including the Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, Comma, Purple Emperor and Brimstone is a beautiful and well balanced starting point

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Rethinking concussion education

The Cardinal’s Brandon Simmons (#2) recently joined an effort to help produce new high school concussion education materials by enrolling in a course at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Here he and Bobby Okereke make a tackle in a game against USC in 2017. (Photo: Stanford Athletics)

Brandon Simmons, a captain for the Stanford Cardinal football team, remembers sustaining his first concussion during a high school game in Arlington, Texas. “I was heading off the quarterback, and my nature as a football player is really physical—I love to hit,” he said. “It was a loud collision, and everyone in the stands went, ‘Oooooh.’ It was a good play— normally I would’ve been hyped about it.”

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But something felt off. “It was such a hard hit that the face mask on my helmet was bent, and my head was ringing,” he said. “I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what it was.” He finished the game—a risky move that likely increased his chance of further injury, he realizes now. But at the time he didn’t know enough to recognize the signs of a concussion or the potential consequences. Earlier this year, by enrolling in an undergraduate course through Stanford’s Graduate School of Education (GSE), Simmons joined a groundbreaking effort to change the way high school athletes learn about concussion risks and symptoms. He and hundreds of students and faculty across the university are collaborating

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for a new generation of athletes

Carrie Spector

with TeachAids, a Palo Alto nonprofit, to develop new concussion education tools using virtual reality, 3D animation and other promising learning technologies. The first module of the new curriculum, called CrashCourse, was released on September 8 at the USC-Stanford football game.

A new approach CrashCourse marks a major departure from traditional concussion education materials— not only for its high-tech approach but also for the arduous testing and humancentered design research behind it.

“Our experts evaluated major concussion education programs available to the public,” said Piya Sorcar, MA ’06, PhD ’09, founder and CEO of TeachAids, which grew out of her graduate work at the GSE in learning sciences and technology design. “Even in states where concussion education is mandatory, the materials might consist of PDF fact sheets, a one-page website, or PSA posters in a locker room,” she said. “And most programs were not evidence-based or pedagogically grounded.” One in five high school athletes in the United States will get a concussion, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported last year. With proper treatment, most will recover within days or weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But studies show that as many as 55 percent fail to notify their coach or another adult of the

Over page

GSE alum Piya Sorcar, founder of the nonprofit TeachAids, spearheaded the development of new concussion education tools using state-of-the-art technology and research. (Photo: Linda A. Cicero)

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injury. A third who sustain a concussion return to robust materials” available in the public domain. play in the same game, other research has found. “I would say 90 percent of them were boring,” said Alameen Murphy, a team captain for the “There’s a huge move forward in concussion awareness, but that isn’t translating into attitude Stanford Cardinal who enrolled in the research seminar. “If you were a high school student and and behavior change,” said Christine Chen, a your coach made you look at it, you would just human biology major at Stanford who wrote an do it and be done with it.” undergraduate honors thesis on concussion education and has worked as a research assistant Many materials, they found, were targeted at the for TeachAids. adults in students’ lives—coaches, parents, Sorcar and her team set out to learn why existing concussion education didn’t seem to be working—and joined with Stanford to create a new curriculum that would.

Identifying the gaps Sorcar has taught a course at Stanford on designing research-based health education initiatives since 2012. Last year she led a new undergraduate research seminar on concussion education through the GSE. The class evaluated what GSE researchers considered the “most

teachers—not at students themselves. Information that was directed at student athletes often featured doctors, trainers and coaches and used medical jargon to communicate information, alienating their young audience. “You’ve got an age group that’s a little recalcitrant to the normal authorities. You can’t tell them, ‘You have to listen to this.’ You need to draw them into the material.” —Shelley Goldman, associate dean at Stanford Graduate School of Education

A hands-on course at the GSE had Stanford undergraduates designing and field-testing new concussion education tools for high school students. 62 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

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Hands-on teaching In January, Sorcar teamed up with Shelley Goldman, an associate dean at the GSE, to teach a hands-on course that had students helping to design and field-test tools for a new curriculum on the subject. Goldman has been teaching curriculum design at the GSE for decades, with a special interest in using technology to support learning. The topic of concussions was new to her, but the educational challenges were familiar. “You’ve got an age group that’s a little recalcitrant to the normal authorities,” said Goldman. “You can’t tell them, ‘You have to listen to this.’ You need to draw them into the material. You’re taking complex information and making it learnable by the way you structure it and offer the experience—whether that’s through the technology that you use or the messengers who deliver the information.” In September, the first component of CrashCourse was launched: an interactive, high-definition video that puts viewers on the field during a football game, where they experience firsthand what it’s like to suffer from a head injury and choose whether to stay in the

game or sit out. (“The story forks, depending on which option the learner selects,” said Sorcar. “It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure.”) The video also features Cardinal players, including running back Bryce Love, who explain how to recognize and treat a concussion—using language and metaphors that resonated with young athletes during extensive field-testing. “Our research showed that to educate effectively about concussions, the curriculum needed to be delivered through voices that youth admired and trusted,” said Sorcar. “The students were adamant that the content should not be delivered by doctors, teachers or coaches. It needed to come from a ‘near peer’ source not viewed as a disciplinarian—ideally, someone who was relatable and had overcome similar challenges to what the students faced.” A five-minute video from TeachAids (“What is CrashCourse?”) introduces the new curriculum. An interactive 12-minute film, also on the website, puts viewers on the field during a football game to experience what it’s like to suffer from a head injury. In the coming months CrashCourse will expand with the release of an interactive virtual reality Over page

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Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 63

component of the curriculum, along with several other modules: • A symptom simulator, which uses virtual reality to help students recognize the signs of a concussion and empathize with those who have experienced similar injuries • A brain fly-through using a 3D representation of an actual brain, to help students better understand its complexity and appreciate its vulnerability • A series of short videos featuring high-profile athletes to complement the information provided by near-peer sources To assess the effectiveness of the new curriculum, GSE Assistant Professor Prashant Loyalka is directing two randomized controlled trials of thousands of football players at high schools across the United States. The studies will measure changes in the players’ attitudes and behaviours after they participate in either CrashCourse or one of three other major concussion education programs. Jennifer Wolf, a senior lecturer at GSE who specializes in qualitative research, worked with the team to gain a deeper understanding of students’ experiences with different interventions. GSE Professor Roy Pea, a leading authority on learning and technology, also played a critical role in the research and advised extensively on ways to optimize the impact of techniques and new media like virtual reality. Beyond giving student athletes information for their own well-being, Sorcar said, the immersive technology is designed to build empathy for what is largely an invisible injury. The Cardinal’s Alameen Murphy said he sees that potential. “This protocol isn’t just good for people who get concussed, it’s for teammates who play with people who get concussed—so they can step up and say, ‘Hey, it’s more important for you to be OK years down the line than to finish this game,’ ” Murphy said. “When I was in high school, I might not have had the courage or the knowledge to do that. I’m way more equipped to do that now.”

Why leaders strugg Most leaders want to create an accountable culture, yet struggle with the process. The question becomes, “How can we create a culture of accountability while at the same time promote open communication, and engagement?” This article explores five reasons leaders struggle with accountability and what you can do to create an accountable culture where people feel supported to do their best work. Struggle No. 1: Lack of clarity If the leader can’t articulate what success looks like, the employee won’t know how to meet the expectations. For example, I often work with executives who are unhappy with performance, and they are clearly frustrated, but they can’t quite pinpoint what kind of change they need the employee to make. The tell-tale sign of a lack of leadership clarity can be heard in the leader’s language: “My employee has a bad attitude.” A bad attitude is a perception, which may be based on inaccurate information. What to do: Get crystal clear on what is happening that should not be happening or vice versa. You’ll know you are clear when you can articulate the observable behavior. For example, the employee comes in late every day. Or, the sales rep slammed down the phone. Your manager rolled his eyes when you were facilitating the meeting. You can only correct what you can articulate. Struggle No. 2: Using accountability the wrong way The very word “accountability” can provoke fear. Often when we talk about “holding people accountable,” we infer that accountability is a whipping stick to promote compliance. The problem is this: Whipping sticks don’t motivate excellence, and compliance does not equal

Seed funding for CrashCourse was provided by the Taube Stanford Concussion Collaborative.

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gle with accountability commitment. You must change the way you use accountability if you want to improve performance. What to do: Use accountability as an opportunity to measure results and coach for improvement. The key is to first make sure the employee takes ownership. Ownership is about responsibility and is heart-based, while accountability is about measurement and is head-based. When the employee takes ownership, and the leader uses accountability as a coaching tool, performance almost always improves. Struggle No. 3: Inadequate resources or knowledge Accountability provokes fear in many front-line employees and professional staff when they are overwhelmed and given too little resources to accomplish the task at hand. For example, if your administrative assistant has an old computer and it breaks down, what’s the next step? Is there someone to call to fix the computer? Are there the resources to purchase a new one? Or does the assistant have to use time and energy figuring out how to fix the computer? What to do: Do a resource and knowledge audit. A simple survey asking two questions will give you want you need. Do you have the resources to do your job without struggle? What kind of knowledge do you need to help you become more efficient? Giving employees unreasonable amounts of work without the adequate resources creates cultures of fear and deception. Employees hide their struggles to protect their job. Remember the formula: Knowledge + Resources > Fear. Struggle No. 4: Skills gap Assumptions are often made about the skills required to do the job. For example, hiring a college intern to put together a mailing list may sound simple. But building a mailing list requires the individual to understand mail merge, Excel or some other software system. New and seasoned front-line employees are thrown into administrative jobs without adequate

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Marlene Chism

training because staffing is short or it’s seasonal crunch time. Before long, the employee has been at the job for months, and the lagging performance is caused by inadequate skills development. What to do: Before hiring or promoting an employee, build a list of the technical skills, communication skills and knowledge needed to do the job. Provide the employee a trial run to see what kind of on-the-job training might still be needed. Set the employee up for success by setting expectations followed by a one-week and one-month check-in. Struggle No. 5: Ineffective performance conversations Very often, employees are unaware of how unhappy their bosses are with their performance. Yet time and time again bosses avoid initiating performance conversations. Companies lose millions due to mistakes, dropped balls, accidents, missed deadlines, and lawsuits— all of which could be avoided if the conversation had not been avoided. Avoidance does not only belong to front-line supervisors, but also to managers, directors and all the way to the C-suite. What to do: Teach leaders at all levels the skillset, mindset, and structure of initiating performance conversations that get results. Avoidance tendencies fade away once the skill set and cultural supports are in place. It starts at the C-suite. If the executives avoid, they model avoidance down the line. Build a culture where conversations are used as a preventative measure rather than as a way to do damage control after the fact.

Marlene Chism is a consultant, international speaker and the author of “Stop Workplace Drama” (Wiley 2011), “No-Drama Leadership” (Bibliomotion 2015) and “7 Ways to Stop Drama in Your Healthcare Practice” (Greenbranch 2018). Download “The Bottom Line: How Executive Conversation Drives Results” Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 65

How a UCLA philosophy professor helpe “The Good Place” gave UCLA philosophy professor Pamela Hieronymi an Easter egg-style visual shout-out by writing her name on the board. Credit: UCLA

A funny thing happened in the esoteric world of philosophy in late 2016 — professors and students were buzzing on social media about a sitcom.

frivolous with the feelings and needs of others, immediately realizes there’s been a mistake. And worse, there’s another Eleanor Shellstrop who’s suffering for the heavenly clerical error over in “the bad place.”

Is there really a television show that muddles through questions like “Is it ever OK to lie?” and “Is morality judged on results or intentions?”

The premise created a fertile ground for all kinds of questions about what makes one person “good” and another not. What actions and decisions should and can be rewarded? And why? And how?

And even more surprisingly, how is this mainstream network TV show getting these debates so right?

As for how the philosophically grounded afterlife fantasy-comedy is getting things so right? Part of the reason is that UCLA philosophy professor Pamela Hieronymi was an early consultant on the show.

That show is “The Good Place,” which debuted on NBC in September 2016 and whose third season opened Sept. 27. The show picks up the story of a young woman immediately following her untimely death by shopping cart. Eleanor Shellstrop, played by Kristen Bell, is greeted in the titular Good Place by Michael, an immortal magical being played by Ted Danson. But Eleanor, who in life was capricious at best, maniacal at times and nearly always 66 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

She met for several hours the year before shooting began with show creator Mike Schur (creator of “Parks and Recreation”) for a wideranging conversation about free will, moral responsibility, ethics and how much agency human beings actually have over their own attitudes, intentions and actions — all of which inform her research and teaching.

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ed construct ‘The Good Place’ Jessica Wolf, UCLA “He was just working on the first scripts and I walked him through the thematic side of concepts and abstract conflicts while he was thinking about how those would apply to storylines and characters,” Hieronymi said. Hieronymi said she gets requests like this every so often, though typically they’re lower profile — a grad student working on a film. She agrees to such meetings whenever she can, because they typically engender an interesting conversation. “And then, I nearly missed our appointment, I was like the absent-minded professor,” she joked. “But he was really nice about it. He wanted to know how someone who is trained the way I am would think through the issues that he wanted to address in his show. It’s really fun to encounter someone who is extremely interested in the things I am, but is coming at them from a very different way of thinking.” ‘The Trolley Problem’

there are five workers, oblivious to the oncoming train. On the other there is just one person. Is it better to turn the train and only harm one? Is this a deceptively simple problem? Hieronymi worked through all the variations of the puzzle and the questions that people sort through as they attempt to predict how they might hypothetically react — do you know any of the people who would be killed? Is the person alone on the second track a life-saving surgeon? The show used special effects and the magic of television to vividly illustrate how some of those reactions and decisions might play out. “The Trolley Problem is a good opener, it’s what I open my introductory course with actually,” Hieronymi said. “It’s a good way to immediately get people to see that the way they think about things sometimes doesn’t fit together. You can get them to say right away — keep five people alive and sacrifice the other one.” But then you start layering in things like the surgeon variation, and it gets people thinking about how their sense of why certain things are right or wrong is off, she said. As the show moved into its second season, Hieronymi said it was interesting to watch the unfolding of some of the broader topics she and Schur originally discussed, like the ideas of shared fate and what humans owe one another if they’re trying to live morally and ethically. Philosophical decisions occur in everyday life

Pamela Hieronymi Credit: Gerard Vong/UCLA One of the standout examples of the show incorporating the conundrums of moral and ethical philosophy occurred during a season two episode. Hieronymi visited the show’s writers room to help explain the classic consequentialism thought experiment known as “The Trolley Problem.” In this scenario, a person must ruminate on the what they would do if they were on an out-of-control train that they cannot stop. They only thing they can do is switch the train from one track to another. On one track

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Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò was alerted to the existence of “The Good Place” while he was a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at UCLA and friends started telling him that there was a show with a character that was just like him. Eleanor’s afterlife soulmate, Chidi (played by William Jackson Harper), was an ethics professor when alive. Chidi teaches Eleanor moral and ethical philosophy so she can genuinely earn her spot in the Good Place. Táíwò was skeptical at first, but soon saw the character similarities — and the larger potential of the show. “A lot of times I find myself struggling to convince my students that they are always involved in something that is relevant to Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 67

philosophy, whether or not that is the term by which they are doing it,” said Táíwò, who is now an assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown. “And now, here’s this world that the show has built where almost every plotline ties into a philosophical question.” Táíwò likes how the show has obliquely tackled religious themes as moral imperatives, and the questions about nature versus nurture the story elicits. “And now we’re essentially in a reincarnational plotline,” he said. “Michael makes this point toward the end of season two, this point of why should a human’s time on Earth be the only time that’s relevant to assessing the immortal soul?” When it comes to thought experiments, Hieronymi prefers what is known as Kavka’s Toxin Puzzle, created by Gregory Kavka, who taught at UCLA in the late 1970s. An eccentric billionaire offers you $1 million dollars if, at 10 p.m. tonight, you decide that tomorrow at noon you will drink a poisoned cocktail. It will make you sick, but not kill you. The billionaire has a magic device that can unequivocally discern whether or not, at 10 p.m., you sincerely intend to drink the poison. But you don’t actually have to drink the poison to get the money. It will appear in your bank account as long as the intention is true. But

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knowing that you don’t have to actually drink it, can you in fact intend to drink it? This relationship between intention and action is at the heart of Hieronymi’s current scholarship. Hieronymi, who has been a professor at UCLA since 2000, teaches a course on ethical theory, and courses in free will and moral responsibility. She’s working on a book titled “Minds that Matter,” which will explore the ways in which the kind of control humans have over their own minds, intentions and fears is not the same kind of control that we have over our actions. In the meantime, Hieronymi will continue to watch “The Good Place,” and enjoy another interesting element of the show — the way in which Schur and the writers have tapped a broad spectrum of philosophical ideas for comedy fodder. “It looks like the show its running at two levels — obviously incorporating Plato and Aristotle and Kierkegaard and Hume and Kant — all the big canonical figures,” Hieronymi said. “But they’ve also found creative ways — even in just little bits of dialogue or set design — to include contemporary thinking from figures like Thomas M. Scanlon and Jonathan Dancy and Todd May. It’s extremely fun to see that philosophy ‘product placement’ in there.”

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How teaching instead of terminating pays off in business Companies tout their ability to come up with innovative products, services and ideas for customers, but managers are far less imaginative when it comes to handling employees not working up to par. Often, the knee-jerk reaction to an underperformer is fast termination, immediately followed by an interminably slow recruitment and onboarding process. Not only does this chew up time and resources, but it can demoralize departments. Plus, if the problem wasn’t the employee but the system itself, the next hire will likely fall into the same pattern of mediocrity, exasperation, or burnout. A better response to the issue of a lagging employee is to dig into the root of the problem. Plenty of factors and barriers can drive poor performance. Until managers seek out the true reasons for underwhelming deliverables, they’ll be doomed to repeat the experience. Understanding why talent may (temporarily) be lacking Managers who don’t immediately hit the eject button may discover that what seems like an individual challenge is actually an organizational concern. The only way to figure out what’s really happening is to be willing to coach people who struggle to fulfill their requirements. Truly, mentoring can be the key to solving many on-the-job conundrums. Michael D. Mumford, author of “Pathways to Outstanding Leadership: A Comparative Analysis of Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic Leaders,” says that hands-on, collaborative leadership support lowers employees’ resistance to be creative. He refers to this type of management as “respecting the ideas and the competence of the person as a creator,” which is in direct contrast to hire-fast, fire-faster philosophies. Another benefit to switching to a coaching style when managing underperformers is that collective engagement begins to tick upward. A study released by Deloitte in 2016 explained that the key to engagement is an “enabling infrastructure.” Individuals who aren’t privately or publicly chastised for one-time errors feel more apt to come forward when they need different timelines or see an opportunity to make tangible changes to positively affect deliverables.

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Opening the path to talk instead of termination Is one or more of your team members continuously delivering unacceptable, uninspiring work? Implement these tactics to find out if the problem lies at the company’s — and not the worker’s — feet. 1. Hold one-on-one meetings These shouldn’t be scary, “you’re in big trouble, buster” conversations. Make your time with employees a prime opportunity for them to describe their obstacles. Listen fully. Then, explore ways to partner on closing gaps in processes to help them do better work. They’re the ones doing the jobs; you’re not helping if all you do is dictate. 2. Invest in necessary resources Money’s tight everywhere. That doesn’t mean leaders should justify holding back resources from employees. When you hear that your employees aren’t able to efficiently or effectively complete assignments because they don’t have the proper tools, take their words seriously. 3. Allocate time to lead You have a running to-do list that never gets shorter. Still, set aside time to inspire and coach your people. Prioritize your time according to what your employees need from you, which may mean coming in earlier or staying later than you anticipated. 4. Talk “big picture” with the team Sometimes, people can’t see how they fit into an organization’s vision without prompting. Give them a 30,000-foot perspective on their unique role; it may just provide the meaning they need to turn the corner. Never underestimate the power of purpose; when individuals feel their contributions matter, they often step up their games. Although parting ways with a bad hire is sometimes inevitable, it shouldn’t be the first line of defense (as long as the employee did nothing unethical or egregious). Focus on identifying and removing obstacles, then evaluate the results. You may just find that your “questionable fit” is actually a fantastic hit. Perri Grinberg is responsible for providing strategic guidance for HR across RAPP US. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 69

Independent kids reap health b New research has found the overwhelming majority of Melbourne parents drive their kids to school with parental fear and convenience holding kids back from walking to school independently. The VicHealth, University of Melbourne, Australian Catholic University and RMIT research found more than 70 per cent of parents who travel with their kids to school drop them off by car, even those living less than 750 metres from their school. The preliminary research findings revealed most parents drive their kids to school on the way to other destinations, like work or the supermarket. Another key barrier for parents is fear, with a VicHealth survey revealing over 40 per cent of parents cite stranger danger as the key reason they don’t let their kids walk to school. The research showed kids who travelled independently of their parents were the most active with 80 per cent walking, riding or scooting to school rather than catching a bus or getting a lift with friends. The release of the research coincides with the launch of VicHealth’s Walk to School program, encouraging Victorian primary school kids to walk, ride and scoot to and from school to build healthy habits for life. Researcher Dr Alison Carver said the study highlighted the importance of supporting parents to allow their kids to travel to school independently.

Photo : Medibank.com.au

“Our research shows independent kids are more active kids. Kids who travel with their parents to school are more likely to be driven and are less likely to walk, ride or scoot,” Dr Carver said. “We know there are several factors behind this including, parents fitting the pick ups and drop offs into their busy schedules, the distance to school and the walkability of their neighbourhood.

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“We also know that many parents are scared to let their kids travel to school by themselves, which is why programs like VicHealth’s Walk to School program is so important – it encourages kids to build their skills to be able to walk to school safely and for parents to feel comfortable because lots of families are doing it.” VicHealth CEO Jerril Rechter said while it was natural for parents to be fearful, taking part in the Walk to School program was a good first step towards supporting their kids to walk to school by themselves. “Despite the fact that over 60 per cent of Victorian parents want their kids to be active on the way to school, we know fear is a strong barrier stopping their kids from walking to school independently,” Ms Rechter said. “It’s really natural for parents to feel anxious about letting their kids walk to school and as parents you’re in the best position to judge when your child is ready to walk to school independently. “We’ve found that for many parents, taking part in programs like Walk to School is a great step towards reducing their fears. “The more families in your area walking to school the safer, and more fun, it’ll be for your kids.” Ms Rechter said with childhood obesity rates on the rise it was really critical that parents were encouraged to help their kids get a bit more physical into their day. “Less than a fifth of kids get enough daily physical activity to be healthy and it’s really having an impact on their health, with a quarter of kids overweight or obese,” she said. “Walking, riding or scooting to and from school every day – even if it’s only part of the way – helps kids get some of the physical activity they need to be healthy. “We encourage parents and carers to support their kids to take part in the Walk to School program – it’s a great way to teach them the benefits of being active and see their confidence improve.”

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benefits of walking to school VicHealth’s Walk to School program runs until the 2nd of November. Kids are encouraged to walk, ride or scoot to and from school each day, with a number of great prizes up for grabs for schools and individuals. To find out more visit www.walktoschool.vic.gov.au Top tips for parents • Set a good example by walking or cycling to local places, including school • Remember if the walk to school is too far why not park a few blocks from the school and allow your child to walk the rest of the way • Observe your child’s behaviour and independence, and look for signs of readiness • Help your child become familiar with the local neighbourhood and identify the safest routes (e.g. where there are safe road crossings) • Practice and reinforce the skills your child needs to travel safely, such as riding a bike and knowing the road rules • Slowly build independence by letting your child do things gradually. You could start by parking the car a few blocks from school and allowing them to walk the rest by themselves

• Make a plan with your child about possible strategies for when things go wrong, such as getting lost, if a stranger approaches them, or if they or their friend gets injured • Agree on a plan with your child for the transition towards independence, and set milestones and boundaries • Encourge kids who have built independence to walk to school rather than driving them on the way to work or other destinations Key facts: • 80% of Melbourne parents accompany their kids to school – 70% by car • 40% of parents cite stranger danger as a key fear stopping them from letting their kids walk to school. Other fears include traffic (26%) and kids getting lost (12%) • More than 60% of Victorian parents want their child to walk to school more regularly • Only one in five kids aged 5-17 years get the recommended one hour of physical activity every day • Childhood obesity levels are on the rise. By 2025, one in three children will be overweight or obese

A Kiribati family at their local medical clinic.

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I’M WRITING A BOOK AND YES I’M YEL A little over a month ago, I received an email from an editor at Page Street Publishing Co.. She asked if I was already working with an agent (bahahahahaha!) and if not, would I be interested in talking with her company about writing a book. I laughed and hovered over the DELETE button because SPAM, right?! Did I have an agent? I have an over-protective mom who’s always telling me what to do, does that count?! Then I remembered the time I declined an invitation to go to the White House to meet First Lady Michelle Obama. Yes, seriously. I was all, “Thanks, but no thanks” because the logistics of the whole trip made me weepy. When I told my husband I had declined, his head exploded: “ARE YOU NUTS?! If you’re invited to the White House, YOU GO TO THE WHITE HOUSE.” So I went to the White House and sat 10feet away from Mrs. Obama and listened as she empowered women and moms and writers and got weepy again, but in the best way. That trip will 72 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

forever remain one of the most incredible experiences of my life. My point? I learned how saying yes can open some unexpected and wonderful doors. So I did some research, chatted with a few writer pals, and whaddya know?! Page Street Publishing, Co. is a real damn company! So that worked out nicely. And the owner is from the Pittsburgh area, so…kismet? You betcha. I said yes: I responded with interest, yet a host of reservations because I’m cynical by nature, but after our first call (I had A CALL, you guys! *pops collar*), I was allllll in! I was let’s hit the ground running! I was let’s get fired up! I WAS READY! Except Page Street wasn’t. Guess if they’re investing money in me (and OMG they are–I’m getting a PAYCHECK for WRITING!! *vomits*), it’s only fair I’d have to prove I can deliver. SO. For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing like a mad woman. Early mornings, late nights, forcing

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LLING!

Stephanie Jankowski

my husband to listen to my ramblings as he’s trying to fall asleep. He loves it, trust me.

gasp at horrifyingly hilarious moments like the time I said a four-letter-word at a schoolwide assembly, and maybe even Finally, I submitted the three glean something useful. The required essays for review book will be a compilation of (after, of course, bothering two essays and a few other of my smartest friends to surprises, and I am so excited I read/review/revise: Jen + Beth could burst!!!! = perfection) and they were ACCEPTED. I am all kinds of humbled by Page Street Publishing. They The essays, not Jen and Beth. don’t even know what they’ve What does all this mean? gotten themselves into, ’cause I’m loyal like a German Shepard It means I’m writing a book. and now love them forever and I AM WRITING A ever amen. I’m gonna make BOOK! them soups and homemade cookies and stuff. I’m gonna Holy chocolate covered Oreo, hold them close to my bosom I’m writing a book. and always remember them as Like, a publishing the people who chose me, and company wants me to write a who made this one HUGE book, then people will dream a freakin’ reality for me. apparently read this book, and Okay. Let’s do this. then I’ll have written a book. *breathes into paper bag* When editors gave me the choice between writing about my experiences with Motherhood or education, I chose the latter. Readers can expect to live vicariously through some of my favorite teaching memories, laugh and

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Hey there, I’m Steph! English teacher by trade, smack-talker by nature, and mother of three who lives by the mantra: Life is too short, laugh! I hope you’ll stick around and check out my stuff. And by stuff I mean my writing. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 73

Does the keto diet live up to its pro As Silicon Valley trendsetters, famous actors, and online health sites tout the low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic, or “keto,” diet, scientists are working to study it — from how it impacts inflammation in the brain to its effects on weight and heart health, as well as any other potential health risks. Among the researchers studying the diet’s effectiveness and safety are Ethan Weiss, M.D., and Raymond Swanson, M.D., two UC San Francisco physician-scientists who have studied different aspects of the ketogenic diet.

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The ketogenic diet tries to bring carbohydrates down to less than 5 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake — which means eliminating most grains, fruit, starchy vegetables, legumes and sweets. Instead, it replaces those calories with fat. That fat is turned into ketone bodies, which are an alternative energy source: besides glucose derived from carbohydrates, ketones from fat are the only fuel the brain can use. Weiss and Swanson helped break down the keto diet. “If we’re going to make a claim, let’s stick to the things we know,” said Weiss. What we know Swanson, a professor of neurology who has researched the impacts of ketogenic diets on inflammation in the brain, got curious about the

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omise? Vicky Stein, UC San Francisco ketogenic diet when trying to treat the inflammation that persists for days after a person suffers a stroke. When he tried inducing a ketogenic state in mice with stroke injuries, he said, “I was overwhelmed by the effect.” Blocking glucose metabolism worked to suppress inflammatory genes, which in turn helped stroke healing. The anti-inflammatory effect of ketosis on stroke recovery is likely the same effect that helps children with certain kinds of seizures, said Swanson, who is a member of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Ketogenic diets have been used as treatment for some forms of epilepsy for almost a century.

Credit: iStock/merc67

Weiss, an associate professor at the Cardiovascular Research Institute who studies the effects of diet on weight and heart health, has been an adviser for Virta Health Corp., a company that is treating type 2 diabetes by controlling patients’ blood glucose levels through a ketogenic diet. “It’s incredibly powerful,” said Weiss of the keto diet. “Cutting back on carbohydrates, there are so many metabolic benefits. The body processes the remaining carbohydrates more efficiently, and so it requires much less insulin.” Frederick Hecht, M.D., research director of the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, also is performing more trials aimed at people with type 2 diabetes. In the controlled trials, a ketogenic state has shown promise in improving human glucose control and decreasing the need for diabetes medications.

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What we don’t know One big hurdle to the knowledge about the keto diet’s impact on humans is that many of the benefits — helping reduce inflammation in the brain, improving outcomes after brain injury and extending lifespan — have only been found in studies in mice. Far fewer clinical studies have been done in humans outside of seizure prevention since ketosis is a difficult state to maintain; avoiding carbs, including fruit, bread, legumes, and the occasional office birthday cake isn’t feasible for many people in the long run. Without peer-reviewed clinical trials, many of the benefits remain anecdotal. For instance, Weiss himself has been on a low-carb high-fat (though not strictly ketogenic) diet for more than six months, and claims he does feel much better. But he’s clear about what he knows and what he doesn’t. He’s lost weight and his borderline pre-diabetes is gone. “I think I feel great,” he said. But that might be because he’s eating less processed food, sleeping better, or enjoying compliments on his new physique. As to the most exotic claims from health and diet gurus — such as keto diets resulting in euphoria, cognitive boosts, and improvements in anything from kidney function to cancer treatment — “We just don’t have the data on that yet,” said Weiss. The researchers agree that the diet itself isn’t inherently dangerous. But, cautions Weiss, “If you have any medical condition, if you take any medicine at all – there are lots of things that change how medicines work in our bodies, and nutrition is definitely one of them. If you’re making a real change in your nutrition, you really should talk to your doctor.”

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Africa International University Mary Kiprotich

Africa international University is a private chartered Christian University located in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya which started in 1983 as Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. It is one of the oldest degree awarding institution in Kenya. Now with over 150 international students currently enrolled at Africa International University, our quest is to touch the lives in accordance with its vision and mission which is to; to educate Christ centered leaders for the transformation of God’s people and the world through innovative programs, research and community engagement. After the charter, the university established a set of non-theological graduate and undergraduate programs in Business, education, leadership, social sciences, economics, finance, Information Technology and theology. Kenya Commission for University Education has recognized the institution as offering qualitative and impactful education. Being a Christian university, Africa International University, as part of its curriculum offers core foundational courses to its students to help them understand who they are and identify their purpose in life as well as who they want to be. The institution teaches from a framework of character formation by

integrating faith and learning to form character based on ethics and values conductive to personal developments as the students interact with faculty and staff as a family. Africa international University has an advantage of a rich cultural diversity representation of 32 nationalities from five continents. This is a sure recipe to catalyze a ripple effect that will send out Christ centred professional to every sector of every nation represented by the 32 nationalities. You can apply to the program of your choice through a) downloading our application package from our website www.aiu.ac.ke or b) download AIU APP from Google playstore, select the program and apply or c) send an email to pr@ africainternational.edu and you will be sent the application package, fill on line and send back. You can study through a) Full time i.e. every day of the week or b) Modular i.e. 2 weeks in January, 2 weeks in April and 2 weeks in August of every year, or c) Holiday i.e. 3 weeks in December, 3 weeks in April and 3 weeks in August or d) Blended e-learning. Orientation for December 2018 Holiday programs will be on 23rd and 24th November, classes begin on 26th November and ends on 15th December. January 2019 orientation will begin on 2nd and end on 4th. Classes begin on 7th January.

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Agreeing to disagree about medical treatment for children Professor Dominic Wilkinson, Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Oxford and a Consultant in newborn intensive care at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, discusses the ethical issues around providing medical treatment for children when parents and doctors disagree. The fraught life and death cases of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans, reached global attention in 2017 and early 2018. They led to widespread debate about conflicts between doctors and parents, and about the place of the law in such disputes. Changes to the law in response to these highprofile cases are currently being debated in the House of Lords. In 2016, Professor Savulescu of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics wrote an editorial for the Lancet medical journal strongly criticizing the court’s decision, and arguing that Charlie Gard should be allowed to travel to America for experimental treatment. He argued that Donald Trump and the Pope were right to support Charlie’s family. In the same issue of the Lancet, I took the opposing view, supporting Charlie’s doctors, and arguing that Charlie should be allowed to die. Professor Savulescu and I are colleagues and long-time collaborators. Over the ensuing months, while the appeals for Charlie Gard were heard in the courts, Savulescu and I conducted a vigorous debate in academic journals and in the media about the rights and wrongs of the Gard case. Over time, we found areas of agreement, as well as areas of reasonable disagreement. In a newly published book, Professor Julian Savulescu and I examine the ethics of medical treatment disputes for children, as well as outlining our own professional disagreement on the Gard case. At one level, this is a rigorous analysis of the rights of parents, the harms of treatment, and the vital issue of limited resources. From opposite sides of the debate about treatment for Charlie Gard, we provocatively outline the strongest arguments in favour of and against treatment. We also outline a series of lessons from the Gard case and

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propose a radical new ‘dissensus’ framework for future cases of disagreement. This case also illustrates some of the distinctive and challenging features of ethical debate in the 21st century. We have shown that it is possible for those who find themselves at opposite ends of an issue to find common ground. Indeed, disagreement about controversial ethical questions is both inevitable and desirable. There is a need for sensitive, rational debate within our community about how to fairly address disagreements about treatment between health professionals and families. That debate cannot, now, help Charlie Gard or Alfie Evans. It can, though, help current and future children with serious illnesses. It can support their families to access desired treatment, within limits. It can help health professionals to be able to advocate for the best interests of their patients. It can help doctors to maintain relationships with families (even if not always seeing eye to eye). It can help society to understand what is at stake, why these disagreements are so difficult, so vexed, and so inevitable. In difficult ethical debates, there is sometimes a desire to reach consensus or agreement on the right thing to do. But that can be a mistake. On questions of deep ethical values, there will always be disagreement. We need to embrace dissensus, not consensus. We should be prepared to disagree ‘Ethics, conflict and medical treatment for children: from disagreement to dissensus,’ is published by Elsevier. Professor Julian Savulescu is Professor of Practical Ethics in the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. Professor Dominic Wilkinson is Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Oxford and a Consultant in newborn intensive care at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Wilkinson and Savulescu are medical doctors as well as experts in medical ethics. Oxford Science Blog Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 77

Six Signs Your Career is Stalling We all get there, at some point. We wake up and head to work, only to walk through the doors and realize whatever it was that motivated us in the weeks, months and years past is gone. The proverbial meteoric rise we were on has now stalled at its apex and you can feel that slight sensation that everything is plummeting into the mundane cadence you swear you’d never fall into. The good news is that very few career stalls are severe enough that you’re left without hope. In this post, we’ll give you six signs that your career is stalling, along with expert advice on how you can revitalize your career. Stalling Sign #1: You Don’t Feel Challenged There’s a relatively old theory floating around which states, quite simply, that employees are happiest when the challenges they face are equal to their skill level. If the challenge level drops, you become disinterested in what you’re doing. Rona Borre, founder and CEO of Chicago-based staffing agency Instant Alliance, said you know

your career is languishing when the demands of your job don’t put your talents to the test. “You know you’ve stalled in your job when you no longer feel challenged on a daily basis,” Borre said. The remedy to this is simple, she said. You’ve got to look for opportunities to challenge yourself. “Whether it’s taking on additional responsibilities, volunteering to help on a project outside of your wheelhouse or attending online classes in your off hours, keep pushing yourself,” Borre said.

Stalling Sign #2: Your Employer Isn’t Delivering on What They Promised There’s nothing more injurious to your sense of momentum and accomplishment when you reach a goal your employer set, only to find out the bonus, raise or promotion they promised is no longer in play. This is a classic sign that you’re in a stall pattern, said career coach April Klimkiewicz, owner of bliss evolution. A great example of this, she said, would be when your company tells you they’re watching your performance in an important project and a promotion is in order if you do well. “You completed the project. You were told it was great, and there have been positive changes for the organization based on your work. The problem is, no one has said anything about the promotion,” she said. “More time goes by, and you feel like you were taken advantage of.” At this point, she said, it’s time to set up a time to talk with your boss and find out exactly what happened. “If the higher-ups drag their feet about it, push the promised promotion further back, or refuse to honor their word, it may be time to consider contributing your talents to a new organization that will value you by doing what they said they would do,” she said.

Stalling Sign #3: You Aren’t Making an Effort to Sharpen Your Professional Skills Employees who are interested in their job will make an effort, whether in their free time or on 78 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

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J.R. Duren

company time, to find learning opportunities that can help them excel in the workplace.

peak happens, the company is unable to continue providing growth opportunities to employees.”

A loss of interest in expanding your knowledge is a sign that you may be entering – or are already in — a career stall.

In this situation, either become the spark your company needs or make a move to a different company or industry.

“An obvious indicator that your career is stalling is a lack of participation in career development opportunities,” said Mollie Moric, hiring manager at Resume Genius. “In order to update existing skills as well as learn new skills, employees should be regularly engaged in conferences, online courses, or in-person workshops related to their field.”

“If you find yourself in this scenario or a similar one, the best solution is to either be a catalyst for growth at the company (if your role allows it) or to move to a faster-growing company, perhaps in another industry,” he said.

Stalling Sign #6: You Just Don’t Want to Get Better

You know you’re in the sweet spot at your job when your supervisors and upper management tap you to be a part of crucial projects.

This final sign that your career is stalling is more a combination of several of the factors we’ve already listed. Not wanting to better yourself through career development and not creating challenges for yourself are signs that there’s something deeper going on.

When those opportunities wane and you see your colleagues getting the calls you used to get, Laura Small, a VP at Santa Monica-based ad agency RPA, says it’s a sign that you might be hitting a plateau.

Dr. Andrew Selepak, a professor in the Department of Telecommunications at the University of Florida, said that, in the end, your career stall is a matter of motivation.

“Your supervisor may perceive you to be working at a very high level, but if you aren’t getting asked to take on big-picture or high-profile assignments, it could suggest that you are not where you need to be,” Small said.

“It is important to always keep looking for new ways to do your job better and new thing to do at your job. This means always learning more and keeping up with new things,” he said. “No one wants to be the dinosaur at work, but this happens when we stop challenging ourselves and stop trying to be better at what we do than we were.”

Stalling Sign #4: You Aren’t Getting the High-Profile Assignments You Used To Get

The solution? Start coming up with reach projects on your own. “Consider bringing forward your own reach project — something that would be of value to the organization and would also allow you to showcase both your current skill set and what you are capable of mastering in the future,” she said.

Stalling Sign #5: It’s Not You, It’s the Industry You’re In There are times when your career stall is beyond your control. For example, the industry in which you work could be in a stagnant season or, worse yet, in a precipitous decline. In these situations, your options are limited, said Alex Robinson, general manager at Team Building Hero. “Some businesses reach their market potential because the market is small or already saturated with competition,” Robinson said. “When this

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In the end, no matter how much of a career morass you find yourself in, you have to believe you can get better every day. “I tell my students, they should always strive to be a better person today than they were yesterday by learning more and pushing themselves to be better,” he said. “If you have lost this motivation to constantly get better at what you do, not only with the external validations stop, but so too will your internal validations leaving you stuck and prematurely peaked when you could be doing more.” J.R. Duren is a personal finance reporter at HighYa.com, where he covers credit cards, credit scores, student loans and more. He is a three-time winner at the Florida Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism contest. Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 79

Women much less likely to ask questi A new study reveals a stark disparity between male and female participation in a key area of academic life and offers recommendations to ensure all voices are heard. “Junior scholars are encountering fewer visible female role models” Alecia Carter Women are two and a half times less likely to ask a question in departmental seminars than men, an observational study of 250 events at 35 academic institutions in 10 countries has found.

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This disparity exists despite the gender ratio at these seminars being, on average, equal. It also reflects significant differences in selfreported feelings towards speaking up. The research, led by a then Junior Research Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, adds to a growing body of evidence showing that women are less visible than men in various scientific domains and helps to explain the “leaky pipeline” of female representation in academic careers. Women account for 59 per cent of undergraduate degrees but only 47 per cent of PhD graduates and just 21 per cent of senior faculty positions in Europe. The bias, identified in a paper published in PLOS One, is thought to be particularly significant

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Photo Acknowledgement University of Essex

ions in academic seminars than men Alecia Carter, Dieter Lukas, Alyssa Croft & Gllian Sandstrom because departmental seminars are so frequent and because junior academics are more likely to experience them before other kinds of scholarly events. They also feature at an early stage in the career pipeline when people are making major decisions about their futures. “Our finding that women ask disproportionately fewer questions than men means that junior scholars are encountering fewer visible female role models in their field,” warns lead author, Alecia Carter.

Self-reported behaviour and perceptions In addition to observational data, Carter and her co-authors drew on survey responses from over 600 academics ranging from postgraduates to faculty members (303 female and 206 male) from 28 different fields of study in 20 countries. These individuals reported their attendance and question-asking activity in seminars, their perceptions of others’ question-asking behaviour, and their beliefs about why they and others do and do not ask questions. The survey revealed a general awareness, especially among women, that men ask more questions than women. A high proportion of both male and female respondents reported sometimes not asking a question when they had one. But men and women differed in their ratings of the importance of different reasons for this. Crucially, women rated ‘internal’ factors such as ‘not feeling clever enough’, ‘couldn’t work up the nerve’, ‘worried that I had misunderstood the content’ and ‘the speaker was too eminent/ intimidating’, as being more important than men did. “But our seminar observation data show that women are not inherently less likely to ask questions when the conditions are favourable,” says Dieter Lukas, who was a postdoctoral researcher at Cambridge during the data collection.

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Question-asking behaviour The researchers found that women were more likely to speak up when more questions were asked. When 15 questions were asked in total, as opposed to the median of six, there was a 7.6 per cent increase in the proportion of questions asked by women. But when the first question in a seminar was asked by a man, the proportion of subsequent questions asked by women fell six per cent, compared to when the first question was asked by a woman. The researchers suggest that this may be an example of ‘gender stereotype activation’, in which a male-first question sets the tone for the rest of the session, which then dissuades women from participating. “While calling on people in the order that they raise their hands may seem fair, it may inadvertently result in fewer women asking questions because they might need more time to formulate questions and work up the nerve,” said co-author Alyssa Croft, a psychologist at the University of Arizona. The researchers were initially surprised to discover that women ask proportionally more questions of male speakers and that men ask proportionally more of female speakers. “This may be because men are less intimidated by female speakers than women are. It could also be the case that women avoid challenging a female speaker, but may be less concerned for a male speaker,” said co-author Gillian Sandstrom, a psychologist at the University of Essex. Linked to this, the study’s survey data revealed that twice as many men (33 per cent) as women (16 per cent) reported being motivated to ask a question because they felt that they had spotted a mistake. Women were also more likely to ask questions when the speaker was from their own department, suggesting that familiarity with the speaker may make asking a question less intimidating. The study interprets this as a Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018 81

demonstration of the lower confidence reported by female audience members. Welcoming the research, Professor Dame Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge, said: “Asking questions at the end of talks is one of the activities that (still) makes me most nervous ... Whatever anyone may think when they meet me about how assertive my behaviour is, it would seem that I too have internalised this gender stereotype.”

Recommendations “This problem can only be addressed by lasting changes in the academic culture which break gender stereotypes and provide an inclusive environment,” Alecia Carter says. The researchers accept that this will take time but make four key recommendations to improve the situation in departmental seminars: Where possible, seminar organisers should avoid placing limits on the time available for questions.

Alternatively, moderators should endeavour to keep each question and answer short to allow more questions to be asked. Moderators should prioritise a female-first question, be trained to ‘see the whole room’ and maintain as much balance as possible with respect to gender and seniority of question-askers. Seminar organisers are encouraged not to neglect inviting internal speakers. Organisers should consider providing a small break between the talk and the question period to give attendees more time to formulate a question and try it out on a colleague. “Although we developed these recommendations with the aim of increasing women’s visibility, they are likely to benefit everyone, including other underrepresented groups in academia,” said Carter. “This is about removing the barriers that restrain anyone from speaking up and being visible.”

Reference: Alecia J. Carter , Alyssa Croft, Dieter Lukas, Gillian M. Sandstrom, ‘Women’s visibility in academic seminars: Women ask fewer questions than men.’ PLOS ONE (2018). DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0202743 Alecia Carter is a Researcher at the Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution, Université de Montpellier. Dieter Lukas is a Senior Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. Alyssa Croft is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. Gillian Sandstrom is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex, UK. 82 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

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Exploring Innovative Cities and the Future of Work:

A Thematic Symposium in Paris Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Alliance Program

On October 10, 2018, a community of scholars convened in Paris for an event titled, “Bridging Ideas”, in order to exchange on some of the critical challenges the world is currently facing, including overcrowding in cities, water shortages, unemployment, and electricity distribution and transportation issues. This gathering marked the 15th anniversary of Alliance, an innovative partnership between Columbia University, École Polytechnique, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Sciences Po.

their perspectives on some of the critical issues the world is facing today, including climate change and the challenge of inventing new jobs in the era of AI.” The event featured two keynote panel debates. The first one focused on “Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities” and explored how innovative ideas can help cities face the challenges of unemployment, social divides, and housing and infrastructure issues.

The four partners collaborate to develop academic partnerships and exchanges through joint projects, visiting professorships, doctoral mobility grants, and student-driven initiatives.

The second panel investigated the question: “Will the Future Work?” It highlighted the insights of scholars who have thought extensively about the advances in automation and artificial intelligence and how they will transform the way we work, learn, and share knowledge.

EmmanuelKattan, Director of Alliance, said: “This event will offer a window into a world of new ideas. It will feature an array of thinkers who work together within Alliance and share

In addition, a Marketplace of Ideas session presented the research of faculty and doctoral students who have been previous grantees of the Alliance Program.

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365 Days of Miniature Cut Paper Egret India-based cut paper artists Nayan Shrimali and Vaishali Chudasama have set out to construct 365 miniature bird species by the end of 2018. To form each work, the pair begins by cutting feathers, beaks, and talons from layers of paper and then using watercolor to produce further detail. Despite the works’ small size (some of the tiniest pieces measuring only 3/4 of an inch from head to tail), each bird takes four to six hours to finish depending on the extent of the bird’s colorful plumage. You can stay updated with the artists’ miniature project on Instagram, and buy tiny avian artworks by the duo on their Etsy Shop.

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ts, Sparrows, Pelicans and Other Birds Kate Sierzputowski

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The Health and Well-Being of Yo

“The focus of the report is not only on students’ academic achievement but also their social, emotional and motivational well-being.” – Francesca Borgonovi

Diversity has always been at the heart of human progress. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reveals an estimated 4.8 million immigrants arrived at OECD countries in 2015, an increase of about 10% over the previous year, with family reunification and free movement across borders each accounting for about a third of these entries. The recent wave of immigration has reinforced a long and steady upward trend in growing social, cultural and linguistic diversity. 94 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

Effective education and social policies are necessary in order for immigrant children to assimilate successfully into society and unlock their true potential. But ensuring that students with an immigrant background have good wellbeing is difficult because many foreign-born students, the children of foreign-born parents, or mixed-heritage students need to overcome the adversities related to displacement, socio-economic disadvantage, language barriers and the conflicting pressures involved in forging a new identity – often all at the same time.

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oung Immigrants C.M.Rubin A new report, “The Resilience of Students with an Immigrant Background: Factors that Shape Well-Being,” underlines the significant role education systems, schools and teachers can play in helping immigrant students integrate into their communities better. The report’s author, Francesca Borgonovi, is an analyst in the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD where she has been responsible for data analysis and analytical work in the PISA and the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), with a particular focus on gender and socio-economic disparities in academic achievement, and student engagement with and at school. The Global Search for Education welcomes Francesca Borgonovi.

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Francesca, what would you say is unique about this study? This report is unique in that it considers the role education systems can play in supporting students with an immigrant background and their families to overcome the adversity that is inherent in displacement by focusing not only on students’ academic achievement but also their social, emotional and motivational well-being. Because the focus of the report is on the whole “We believe that providing both arts and sports in schools and in extracurricular activities are important to support the growing diversity arising from international migration.” – Francesca Borgonovi

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“While extracurricular activities have mainly positive benefits for every student, they can be particularly beneficial for students with learning disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.” – Francesca Borgonovi

child and the vulnerability that displacement can create, the report not only broadens the dimensions of resilience, but also shows which groups may be vulnerable.

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together” – What more needs to be done to promote the Strength through Diversity project?

Traditionally, analyses based on data from PISA considered students with an immigrant background those who have two foreign-born parents, and subsequently distinguished them between foreign-born students and native-born students. This report considers two additional groups: returning foreign born students and students of mixed heritage. It illustrates that while in most countries these students perform only marginally less well than native born students, they often face a lower sense of belonging and life satisfaction. The report also examines the risk and protective factors for an individual, and school system levels that can support students and help them succeed.

The Strength through Diversity project is new and relatively unknown, so many people and countries do not know how they could benefit from the project outputs. The project is developing a series of in-depth analyses on the outcomes of immigrants as well as how education systems can promote social cohesion by helping native populations develop openness towards diversity. But the key to the project is that it aims to develop a community of practitioners in member countries and beyond as well as provide in depth support to individual countries that would like to learn from international experiences. It supports countries with particular policy challenges in schools through its targeted country spotlight series. Work has already begun in areas such as Sweden and Chile. Sharing information about the project

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and project findings among networks can raise awareness and promote the project overall so that more countries, more institutions and more individuals can benefit. We are seeing innovative learning programs around the world using the liberal arts and sports to promote diversity, inclusion and overall well-being in schools. What are your thoughts on expanding extra-curricular activities to support the growing diversity that’s arising from international migration? We believe that providing both arts and sports in schools and in extracurricular activities are important to support the growing diversity arising from international migration. Participating in arts and sports should be available for all students, not only economically advantaged ones. In fact, the report on resilience shows that allocating resources to after-school activities can make a difference in helping immigrant students integrate better. Research indicates that both sports and arts can have positive effects on participants’ academic and well-being outcomes. More specifically, they can improve students’ sense of belonging, motivation and academic achievement. Extracurricular activities can be a vehicle for strengthening social support systems, developing social skills and relationships, and enhancing neighborhood cohesion. While extracurricular activities have mainly positive benefits for every student, they can be particularly beneficial for students with learning disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through such activities, these students might assume leadership roles and demonstrate talents in ways that that might not be available to them in traditional classroom settings. Extracurricular activities might also allow students to meet and make friends with peers from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

Oh Boy: A storybook of epic NZ men by Stuart Lipshaw Puffin RRP $45 A companion book to Go Girl by Barbara Else, this interesting book in jam packed with vignettes of ‘famous’ or ‘notable’ New Zealanders. Kiwi men who didn’t give up, who had an idea or a dream and who went for it. It’s great to have a book with local role models/heroes and whether the book and the subjects are considered for girls or boys is pretty irrelevant these days. The likes of John Britten and Sir Edmund Hilary would inspire any child. The subjects are covered with short descriptors by the author and the illustrations by a panel of ten illustrators are diverse in style but capture the themes well. A very useful and usable book (along with Go Girl) to have on hand in the classroom or library.

C. M. Rubin and Francesca Borgonovi

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Brush Art by The Gentleman Felter Simon Brown, going under the alias of The Gentleman Felter, is a United Kingdom-based artist, who creates unique scenes by combining handmade felt animals with used old brushes. The artist lives in a small village on the Northumbrian coast which is, as the artist describes, “surrounded by castles, cats and copious amounts of tea.” “I find old, beaten up, heavily used brushes that nobody would look twice at and bring them back to life with tiny animals stabbed to life with wool, creating whimsical pieces filled with life, curiosity, and danger,” described his work Simon. His works are incredibly cute and over 10,000 of his Instagram followers seem to agree.

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Simon Brown The Gentleman Felter

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Hawthorne High School’s New Prin Bill Cunningham is the new principal of Hawthorne High School and brings with him a wealth of instructional experience. The 39-year-old family man is a graduate of St. Peter’s Prep, attended the University of New Haven, and graduated from New Jersey City University. It was there he earned his bachelors in history and political science, then continued to get his masters in Special Education and credits in Administration Supervision. Cunningham lives in Rutherford and is looking forward to getting married this October to his fiancée with whom he has a 2-year-old son. Cunningham is beginning his seventeenth year working in education and speaks with a calm, relaxed tone. Affable and collected, he presents the image of a modern, approachable, professional principal. Prior to coming to Hawthorne High School, Cunningham worked for 12 years as a special education and crisis intervention teacher in Lincoln High School in Jersey City. He was Vice Principal of Rutherford High School for four years afterward. The newest chapter in his career has brought him to the blue-and-white painted halls of Hawthorne High. I asked Bill Cunningham—not William—about his vision for the school as he embarks on his first year as captain of the ship. “I met with the faculty prior to the end of the last school year. After talking with some people, I decided to come up with a culture of collaboration,” he said. “This summer when I started I offered the opportunity to anyone who wanted to come in and meet with me one-on-one. All staff members, I had some students come in, I had parents come in, I felt it was good to get people in to ask them about what’s going well and where do we need improvement. I had nearly forty meetings over the course of the summer with the staff, parents, students, and it was a real eye-opening experience because I think it is important when you are crafting a vision to get the stakeholders’ input.” Culture of Collaboration is one of the key planks in Cunningham’s vision for Hawthorne High School. “My culture of collaboration is coming to fruition in that regard. I had the first faculty meeting, we kept pushing that idea. It comes from the top 110 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

down, so communication has to be effective and that goes for the students as well as the staff. If something is going on in the building, I hope they’re comfortable enough to come to me and talk about it. The second part, there’s been a lot of wellness initiatives. One of the first things I started—and again I put feelers out to the staff who wanted to be involved with it—is a school Culture and Wellness Committee, so that’s one initiative that is taking root now. On December 20th we are going to be doing ‘Breaking the Cycle’, a presentation about forgiveness. I think schools in this day and age can’t just focus on one initiative, it has to be a whole-school-approach to have well rounded kids: kids who are engaged in the schools but also well rounded, I don’t just mean academically and athletically, but also in terms of their minds.” Schools are getting more attention in the media and becoming more of a part of the national conversation with regards to mental health issues and bullying. I asked what resources were available to address concerns that may arise for students’ mental well-being. “We have to have a hands-on approach. Every kid is different, every kid has different needs. So, the idea is that we have programs in place that we do in-house and also bring in outside providers. We have a partnership with Care Plus which provides counseling services for students in need. It is not specific to any particular student, but whoever might be struggling, whether it is at home or overwhelmed with school. We also have guided staff. We restructured things a little over the last year in terms of having the component of outside agencies coming in and having presentations, because it is something that really needs to be discussed. Often mental health is something that people don’t want to discuss because there’s an air of stigma about it, but it is something we need to discuss so we have healthy kids and healthy staff. It is important that we don’t forget about the staff. On our end, it is about building a family atmosphere, where if we have someone going through a difficult time, I hope they’ll come down and have a conversation with me and we can help them.” It is apparent from the start that Cunningham does not believe a principal should be stuck behind a desk all day, but walking the beat and keeping an

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ncipal Shares His Vision ear close to the ground as to trends and issues circulating throughout the high school. “I think it is extremely important for a principal to be out and about in classrooms. Another initiative I put forth with my admin team is classroom walkthroughs. We get out in classrooms: it’s a snapshot of what’s going on, it’s not evaluative. However, it gives us a good idea of some trends that are across the building. What we use that data for is when we come back for administrative meetings, we may see a trend and see if we need some professional development for the teachers, say whether it be classroom management or it could be higher order questioning or it could be technology in the classroom. It’s basically a way for me to get out from doing paperwork, and to really see what’s going on, on the instructional side.” Having worked for twelve years as a special education teacher, his conviction shows when he talks about the quality of instruction he expects for the students. “When it ultimately comes down to it, I’m the instructional leader in this building so we have to make sure our kids are actively engaged and high quality instruction is on-going. There’s no excuse for poor quality instruction, I think that’s something that is imperative in order to move forward as a school and get better. The administration needs to be out in classrooms to see what’s going on. Kids see me in classrooms so that they won’t think, if they get called down to the principal’s office, that it always have to be a negative thing. One of the things that we’re bringing forth as well is highlighting students in terms of recognition, giving them communication in terms of letters for being honored. We had three kids: one was honored as an NJIC football player of the week. We had a freshman girl soccer player who was NJIC player of the week. We had a girl’s soccer player who was named freshman soccer player of the week. All of the students receive a letter from me letting them know how proud we are.”

John Van Vliet

have a name yet, but we have the bear award which will be given to a staff member once a month as voted on by the students. They can be anyone, a custodian, maintenance worker, security guard, clerical, teacher, counselor, anyone voted by the staff and students. Something to boost morale.” Bears and letters of recognition aside, he values openness and communication with everyone involved with the school. “I have an open door policy for whoever wants to have a discussion. I welcome anyone who wants to have a dialogue, I want what’s best for the students here at Hawthorne High School and I want to be able to have an open dialogue with parents and other stakeholders in the community who wish to be involved. Parent involvement at times on the high school level isn’t as prevalent as on the elementary school level, so that’s something I hope to increase. We had a great turn out at our PTO meeting, it was the first of the year, so there’s a good number of parents there, but we would always love to have more. I look forward to being a part of this community and helping kids succeed and parents guide their children along the way.”

“Another thing is the bear,” he said and pointed to a large stuffed bear wearing a Hawthorne High School Bears shirt. Until now, I had not given the bear seated next to him much thought, but it was apparent that Cunningham has a purpose behind everything within his pview. “The bear doesn’t

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Relieving Teacher Blues It was about the time I had to pay both my dentist and the power company. I had come to the conclusion that teeth and electricity were sort of necessary, as well as minor irrelevancies like medicine, groceries and cat food and so needed to ensure my bank account was healthy enough. After a millisecond of existential angst, I decided to become a relieving teacher and although it would be the first time at the chalkface (what’s chalk?) since 1994, I manfully (sorry about the sexist language, snowflakes) accepted the challenge. Getting a practising certificate was the first hurdle. This required dredging up past employment records and devising a ‘back to teaching plan’. Luckily, I could remember those past places of employment where I’d cut my teeth (hence the later dental costs) doing country service and Modern School Maths, BURT word recognition tests, avoiding taking the STJC’s * chair in the staffroom, accompanying children to manual training and welcoming the school inspector. The plan was a bit tricky. I had to mention something about e-asTTle, National Standards and other sundry contemporary terms, some of which are already history. The people who received my application and payment seemed OK with what I wrote, so a shiny, red ‘Subject to Confirmation’ certificate duly arrived. For those not in the know, “Subject to Confirmation,’ isn’t a religious ritual * Senior Teacher, Junior Classes (usually a very competent sort of the ‘She who must be obeyed’ genre -a cross between Florence Nightingale, Sylvia AshtonWarner and Arnold Schwarzenegger. 112 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018

(thank God) but a sort of probationary period for a teacher who has been out of it for a while. I had to update my C.V. I had to advertise myself to local principals. Then came a time of waiting – and waiting. Then, at 8.15 one morning, the first call came. I guess the principal had got to the end of the list. Some musings: Day relieving is humbling. One of my first classes was a group of 7/8 year olds who were interested in who I was. After I had introduced myself and called the roll, I asked if they had any questions. ‘How old are you?’ I could have assumed a high-horse position and invoked the 5th like a guilty American senator, but decided to seize the moment. ‘What do you think?’ Their estimations ranged from twentyfour to one hundred. ………… I had been asked, by the teacher I was replacing on one occasion, to use class computers for a reading lesson. Nobody knew the passwords and when the class nerd and I tried to open one, it crashed. ‘Now it won’t open for three years. That’s what happened to the last reliever.’ Wonderful. ………… Relievers who are experienced will be well aware of strategies used to avoid work. One of these goes like this: a child will approach

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the teacher when he/she is fully occupied with half a dozen seven-year-olds trying to master some complicated instruction. The said child will pull at the teacher’s sleeve until attention is gained, whereupon she will make a ‘T’ sign with her hands. Those in the know will recognise the, ‘May I go to the toilet?’ signal. Permission is granted. After about ten minutes the busy teacher will remember this non-verbal request being repeated several times. The room will seem quieter and less crowded. Then a student will approach. Please Mister. Taylah, Allannaah, Beyonce, Rivierra and Meghan have all gone to the toilet and only one is allowed at a time and they have been there for ages. Dilemma. Solved by sending snitch to the toilets, threatening all sorts of apocalyptic mayhem on those who weren’t there on legitimate business. Missing girls return protesting their innocence. ………… Paper work for relievers seems quite complicated, especially if they want to be paid. All sorts of historical records must be accessed for the powers that be. At least I don’t have to send a form stating where I have been for each relieving day. I can remember, decades ago, seeing one of these forms where a hapless reliever had written his previous position as ‘lion-tamer, XYZ Intermediate.’ As it was, my first pay slip noted that I was ‘unqualified, untrained.’ Damn cheek! …………

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Playground duty and day-relieving seem to go together like Elizabeth Taylor and weddings. Here, the reliever has to address all sorts of issues, ranging from skinned knees to contretemps between students. Most schools adhere to stated policies about conflict resolution. For example, students ‘discuss disagreements that arise and negotiate solutions’. Advocating peaceful communication is indeed interesting when dealing with siblings whose concept of resolution is to kick each other with increasing intensity. ………… Students, believe it or not, occasionally try to deceive relievers. Take, with a grain of salt, protestations that students may access music to listen to when silent reading; eating is permitted in class and homework is never given. ………… So far, I have been very impressed with teachers in schools. It’s obvious that paperwork has increased since my days and assessment rulz!! Numeracy and literacy still dominate and teachers try their utmost to make programmes individual to the child. They still find time to fit in music, the arts, science and technology, as well as employ Te Reo. Teaching is still a vocation that requires a multitude of skills and a large sense of humour and a degree of stoic acceptance. One day I will dredge up some courage and take my beaten-up old guitar to class. The first song will be that Monkee’s classic, ‘I’m a Reliever.’

Roger

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“The best teachers don’t give you the answers... They just point the way ... and let you make your own choices.” 114 Good Teacher Magazine Term 4 2018