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RNZ News
a day ago
- General
- RNZ News
School curriculum rewrite had serious problems, managers considered using AI to help
Students learning in a school classroom. Photo: Unsplash/ Taylor Flowe Internal Education Ministry documents sighted by RNZ reveal serious problems plagued the rewrite of the school curriculum earlier this year and managers were considering using AI to help with the work. The latest leak from the organisation shows only a few months ago it lacked a clear definition of the core concept underpinning the entire rewrite - "knowledge rich" - even though it had already published primary school maths and English curriculums by that time and had nearly completed draft secondary school English and maths curriculums. It was also struggling with repeated requests for changes. Primary school principals and the secondary teachers union told RNZ they were worried about the curriculum development process. They said they still had not seen a clear definition of the term 'knowledge-rich' as it applied to the New Zealand curriculum. The Education Ministry told RNZ content of the English and maths curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich curriculum design principles" but it failed to provide a definition of knowledge-rich despite being asked for one. The latest leak followed a series of disclosures of internal documents that prompted the ministry to hire a KC to investigate where they were coming from. A "programme status report" sighted by RNZ said the introduction of a new process for developing the curriculum posed an "extreme" issue to the work. "The new delivery process is adding complexity to both internal and external delivery and review procedures as we do not have a clear definition of a knowledge rich curriculum and what it looks like in a NZ context," it said. "There is no international comparison we can pick up and use." Elsewhere, the document said lack of an agreed definition was affecting all learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA), the curriculum for Māori-medium schools. "Both the NZC and TMoA curricula lack a clear design framework for defining a knowledge-rich curriculum. This absence of a design point is impacting the development of all learning areas, as continuous refinement and clarification are required," it said. "Options are now being looked at to bring in overseas experts to help us develop templates and frameworks for the curriculum which we can then apply." The report said the programme was in red status for the month of February. It said the key challenge was the lack of a constant template for the work it was producing. The document said even if the ministry resolved that problem it still faced challenges including having to revise its work due to changing expectations, lack of a clear and consistent understanding of the term 'knowledge rich', and lack of a design framework. The status report warned that governance groups associated with the rewrite were ineffective because they provided conflicting advice and their feedback was not always followed. It said stakeholders had different expectations about the use of mātauranga Māori in the curriculum and contributing groups lacked skills and experience. The ministry told RNZ it was developing the curriculum framework, Te Mātaiaho, to be consistent with a knowledge-rich curriculum. It said since last year its work on defining a knowledge-rich curriculum was informed by several sources and a literature review had been commissioned. However, it did not provide any definition, despite being asked for one. The ministry told RNZ the curriculum rewrite was currently at red status after being in amber status in the previous two months. "Due to the scale and complexity of this work, shifts between Amber and Red status are expected. The Ministry actively manages programme risks using its risk management framework, with mitigation strategies in place, regularly monitored, and escalated when necessary," it said. It said the work had 10 high risks, 25 moderate risks and five low risks. Post Primary Teachers Association vice-president Kieran Gainsford told RNZ teacher subject association leaders met recently and were worried about a lack of clarity about key terms such as the 'science of learning' and 'knowlege-rich curriculum'. Gainsford said teachers had been saying for some time it was critical that the curriculum was clear. "If even officials aren't sure of what they mean by the terms of science of learning and knowledge-rich curriculum, knowledge-rich in particular, then it leads to the question of how on earth are schools and teachers supposed to know what they mean by that," he said. He said the ministry was yet to publish a clear definition of the term knowlege-rich and it needed to be crystal-clear. "At the moment we're trying to respond in many cases to stuff that's poorly-defined and that leads to debate or discussion that isn't particularly fruitful," he said. Principals Federation president Leanne Otene said it was clear to primary and intermediate principals the curriculum was "being built as the plane was flying". She said a knowledge-rich curriculum would define what needed to be taught at each level of learning, but the ministry had not delivered on that. Otene said parts of the published curriculums read like they had been cut and pasted from elsewhere. Association of English Teachers president Pip Tinning said the problems outlined by the ministry documents were not normal for curriculum development. She said the ministry had not explained knowledge-rich in terms of the English curriculum or its definition of the science of learning. Meanwhile, a separate Education Ministry document from December last year titled "Options for change to the curriculum regulatory system" showed plans to allow the Education Minister to set different curriculum expectations for different types of schools. The document said the power could be useful to help schools better support their students. "For example there could be a pedagogy that only schools and kura with technology hubs must use, or a curriculum statement that applies specifically for kura kaupapa Māori," the document said. The document said education sector groups were largely supportive of the plans, which would ensure the curriculum was reviewed and updated regularly. A document about the Science curriculum outlined shortcomings with the existing curriculum which the ministry said resulted in over-crowded lessons and few children enjoying the subject and continuing it at university. It said the curriculum needed to be revised to help students understand science in day-to-day life and other countries were changing their science curriculums for similar reasons. A senior manager's briefing to ministry staff raised the possibility of using AI to write some of the material underpinning the curriculum. The manager said they could use AI to synthesise the curriculums of countries such as Singapore, NSW, British Columbia, with New Zealand information almost instantly. They said it could also ensure the use of consistent language between curriculum documents. Asked about the use of AI, the ministry told RNZ: "The Ministry is exploring how artificial intelligence tools can support curriculum development, particularly by analysing and synthesising information from international curricula and related knowledge frameworks. AI is not being used to directly write curriculum content but may assist with background research and insights."
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The school where NONE of the pupils speak English as first language
On a bright, sunny afternoon parents are picking up their children from Kobi Nazrul primary school in London 's East End in familiar scenes repeated up and down the land. Yet Kobi Nazrul is unique. It's thought to be the only school in the country with no pupils who speak English as a first language. Despite the language barrier, the 'friendly and welcoming' school received a glowing report from Ofsted in its most recent inspection. Leaders have 'high aspirations for pupils' who 'very much' enjoyed their learning environment and gave the school a 'good' rating, the second highest. Parents seem equally as enthusiastic. Picking up her six-year-old son, Bina Begum, 36, told MailOnline: 'The school is amazing, they're so supportive and very welcoming. 'I think the staff are doing a wonderful job.' The inner city school sits in a quiet side street off the busy Commercial Road in Whitechapel - a district once synonymous with Jack the Ripper and the Kray twins and home to the nation's true Cockneys. So how is it that pupils at the school - that stands in the shadow of towering skyscrapers which represent the immense wealth of the City - start their academic life speaking very little, or no, English at all? Latest UK government data shows that of the 243 pupils aged three to 11 on the primary school's register, 100 per cent of them do not have English as their first language compared with 22.8 per cent across England as a whole. Department of Education statistics, obtained by MailOnline under a Freedom of Information request, show 92.5 per cent of boys and girls at the school speak Bengali as their first language. The overwhelming majority of children at the school come from the local Bangladeshi community. Yet there are also a number of youngsters from Indian and Pakistani backgrounds who speak Hindi and Urdu and a small but growing number who speak Albanian. There are also pupils who are fluent in Italian and German who were born in Italy and Austria to Bangladeshi families who later moved to London. At the end of the street, just yards away, is the East London Mosque, one of the largest in Europe which accommodates up to 7,000 worshippers for prayers. Mrs Begum said: 'The majority of children are from a Bengali background but the school embraces all cultures and everyone is made to feel at home. 'My niece was the first in the family to go there and she's now 27-years-old. Her siblings followed and now my son is in Year One and my daughter is due to start later this year.' Speaking at the school gates as he waited for his son and daughter with other fathers, Md Al Mamun, 40, said: 'I like that the teachers and those who run the school try and keep things interesting for the children. 'They had a trip recently to the seaside and the children loved that. There's also a lot of extracurricular activities organised by the school. 'The classes aren't huge. 'My children speak English fluently but also speak Bengali, most of their school friends do. 'But it's not just children from a Bengali background. There's children from Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern backgrounds and a few children from Albanian backgrounds.' According to the 2021 Census, more than half of Whitechapel's residents - 51.3 per cent to be exact - come from an Asian background. The area has a long history of welcoming immigrants. From the late 19th century until the late 20th century, Whitechapel had a very high Jewish population but since the 1960s it has been home to London's Bangladeshi community. Gone are the traditional East End pubs and pie and mash shops and in their place are Islamic cafes and shops selling Muslim robes and sarees. Palestinian flags flutter from windows or are painted onto the grills of shopfronts and street signs warning of 'No ball games' are written in Bengali as well as English. The local authority is headed by controversial Bangladeshi-born mayor Lutfur Rahman who was re-elected three years ago. Rahman had been removed as mayor in 2015 and banned from standing again for five years after being found guilty of electoral fraud. Mohiul Islam, 56, has worked for a money transfer business based opposite the school, for the last 40-years. He said that when the business was set up in the mid-1980s there were still 'a few' East End-born and bred Cockney families living in the area. Mr Islam, who is originally from Bangladesh, said: 'They are all long gone. I don't know of any now because they've either passed away or moved out of Whitechapel. 'This area has always been popular with Bangladeshis, it's our heartland in London. 'Before Brexit there were Bengali families who had been living in Europe, in countries like Italy, Germany and Austria who came to Whitechapel. Some have stayed others have gone back. 'There is also a growing number of East Africans, particularly Somalis, moving to the area but I think it will always be dominated by the Bangladeshi community.' Not all the changes in recent times have been good, according to Mr Islam. He said: 'I think the biggest change is the sheer number of people who live here now. It's become very overcrowded and as a result there's a lot more litter around the streets. 'The young people are also not as considerate today as people were a while ago. They appear much more arrogant and entitled. 'There are still drug dealers operating around here and some of the youngsters walk around smoking cannabis, you can smell it. 'But I would say there are fewer robberies than before and there has been a reduction in instances of domestic violence which used to be a big problem locally. There's more education and awareness around the issues now.' Shahin Ahmed, 55, runs a corner shop close to the school. He said: 'Most of my customers are from a Bangladeshi background but there are increasing numbers of shoppers from Europe and Brazil. 'A lot of the children come in here after school and all of them speak in English to me even though they are fluent in Bengali. 'There is a good sense of community spirit around here. There is very little in the way of tension. 'The police and council have put up more CCTV cameras which has helped push the drug dealers out. 'Whitechapel is a busy and crowded area and it's noisy but the streets around the school are relatively quiet and calm.' Mohammed Saaddudin, who runs a nearby Halal butchers, explained that the majority of Bangladeshi's in Whitechapel come from one region in the north east of the country. Mr Saaddudin, 71, said: 'I would say if you stopped 100 people in the street outside, at least 90 of them would be from Sylhet. 'When Bangladeshis first started coming over to England, that's where they came from. 'Over the last 15-20 years Bangladeshis have been coming over from other parts of the country but most of us will be from Sylhet. It's a home from home in Whitechapel.' Iqbal Hossan, 50, is one of many Bangladeshis to come to London from Italy. He had been working in Venice and Milan before travelling to Whitechapel eight years ago and now runs Caffe Italia just off Commercial Road. Despite the name, most of the customers are Bangladeshi and speak Bengali. Mr Hossan said: 'The UK has a much bigger Bangladeshi population than Italy and Whitechapel is the centre of London's Bangladeshi community which is why so many of us have travelled over. 'The coffee and the food is Italian but it has a Bangladeshi flavour.' The terraced streets around Kobi Nazrul primary are filled mainly with late Victorian three-storey villas. The average price for a detached house is more than £1million and more than £600,000 for a two-bed leasehold flat - out of the price range of the families of most pupils at the school. According to an Ofsted report in 2016, a 'much higher than average' number of students - almost half those on the school roll - were eligible for 'pupil premium funding' - grants aimed at improving the outcomes for disadvantaged children. Through the scheme primary schools receive £1,480 per child with funds allocated to schools based on how many children are receiving free school meals. The school also had a higher than average proportion of pupils who had special educational needs or disability with most cases relating to 'speech, language and communication needs or moderate learning difficulties'. Despite this the school, which was named after a Bengali poet and activist, is thriving. According to the latest published performance data, 76 per cent of pupils at Kobi Nazrul are meeting 'expected standards' in reading, writing and maths even though all 29 children in the final year of primary school did not have English as their first language. That compares with a local average of 71 per cent and an average of 61 per cent in England. But it was not always this way and the school has had something of a chequered past. In 2006, future Prime Minister David Cameron visited Kobi Nazrul to unveil his 'vision' to transform education. Cameron, who had recently been made Conservative leader, outlined his party's plans to turn around the fortunes of schools in inner-city areas which he said had been failing for too long. The school was chosen for the launch as it was achieving good results despite its location in one of Europe's poorest districts. Another high profile visitor was Judy Murray who went there to share tennis tips and teach the kids ball games - just days after her son Andy beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Wimbledon title in 2013. But there were troubles on the way for the school which just months later was plunged into crisis amid allegations its leadership had been infiltrated by Islamic extremists. Troubles began after a dramatic drop in standards led to Kobi Nazrul recording the worst ever SATs results in the borough. Just 40 per cent of children at the school achieved the required results in Maths and English compared with 82 per cent in 2012. It led to an emergency Ofsted inspection carried out with no notice at the request of the then education secretary. It then emerged Tower Hamlets Council held information relating to concerns over attempts by Islamic extremists to infiltrate local schools and subvert teachings. It also emerged that one of the school governors was a senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir - a radical global group with a 'long-term goal of establishing a caliphate ruled under Islamic law' which has since been outlawed in the UK. The school was placed in special measures after it was found to be 'inadequate' in all areas. Its then headteacher denied there had been attempts at radicalisation but amid the failings, the head was replaced along with the school's entire board of governors. Australian-born Belinda King was appointed interim head before the position was made permanent and she remains at the school today. She set off on a mission to turn around the failing school and quickly produced results. In February 2016 the school was given its 'good' Ofsted rating after an inspection found the 'highly effective senior leadership team' has secured 'significant improvements'. Ms King told MailOnline: 'The community here is wonderful. We are a very diverse school and I'm fiercely protective of all my children and their parents.'
Irish Times
16-05-2025
- Irish Times
Former principal convicted of €100,000-plus theft from school faces fitness-to-teach inquiry
A Teaching Council fitness-to-teach inquiry has heard evidence regarding a former principal from the midlands who stole more than €100,000 from the school he was working in. The 381 instances of theft occurred in a primary school between 2017 and 2019. The man was tried on indictment, found guilty and subsequently sentenced to six years, with the final 4½ years suspended. The thefts stemmed from the use of a credit card and cheques, on which the man forged the signature of the chairperson of the board of management. Eoghan O'Sullivan BL, appearing for the director of the Teaching Council, argued that the man's convictions affect his fitness to teach. READ MORE The man, who is now working as a teacher, said he was arrested one week before Christmas 2020, which came as 'a shock', and that he fully co-operated with the investigation. He said the hardest thing about his incarceration was being separated from his son, who was then 'four going on five'. The conditions on which part of the teacher's jail sentence was suspended included him paying €60,000 to the school in €20,000 instalments on the first, second and third anniversaries of his release from custody. However, the man said that on the first anniversary, he came to an agreement with the school to pay back just €10,000, as he was on jobseekers' allowance and looking for employment in the education sector. The man is currently teaching in a primary school in the east region, where he began working last December and was subsequently offered a permanent position. Representatives of the Teachers' Union of Ireland provided support to the teacher at the inquiry. Before the hearing, the Teaching Council panel agreed to impose reporting restrictions to protect the man's anonymity. Further amendments were made to the order at Thursday's hearing, including not reporting the names of any witnesses, except those called in a professional capacity, the name of the sentencing judge, the nature of a disability the teacher has, and the name of the school where he is employed. However, before drawing the inquiry to a conclusion, the panel adjourned to consider its directions in light of queries from The Irish Times regarding the order on anonymity. The panel, through its chairperson Mary Magner, and after considering legal advice from legal assessor Ronan Kennedy SC, ruled it could be reported that the inquiry related to a former principal from the midlands who was affected by an addiction. During the inquiry, Cathy Maguire SC, on behalf of the teacher, called Prof Colin O'Gara, a consultant psychiatrist at St John of God Hospital, who works in the field of addiction, to give evidence. He said he met the teacher in June 2023 for an initial assessment and told the inquiry he had presented with a long history of severe addiction. Prof O'Gara cautioned against how the media may portray the addiction from which the teacher was suffering, and the offences for which he was convicted, as he said this merely adds to the stigma associated with the addiction. 'It's part of the public shaming, some people don't have problems like that, it's misery heaped on misery,' he said. The teacher also outlined the history of his addiction, which began in 2007. He gave evidence regarding the death of his younger brother, who was afflicted by the same addiction, through suicide. The teacher also outlined the steps he is taking to remain in remission. Ms Magner set June 3rd as a preliminary date for the reconvening of the inquiry.
