A top teacher says New Zealand’s education system requires a rethink as it often fails to recognise ability and intelligence beyond narrow definitions.
Award-winning educator Welby Ings, in his new book Invisible Intelligence: Why Your Child Might Not Be Failing, argues policymakers often reach for simplistic solutions because of “educational anxiety” over how students are doing at numeracy and literacy assessments.
Instead, Ings advocates for a testing system based not on giving single grade letters, but on nuanced evaluations from teachers as an explanation for the full breadth of a student’s ability. He also wants to do away with streaming in schools.
“Research clearly shows that they don’t work well for most people. That’s because you lose agency and faith in yourself,” Ings told Q+A.
“It also, this is what they call the Pygmalion effect, it can cause educators to presuppose that somebody’s horizon is as close as it’s been said on a piece of paper… when in fact it’s not.”
Ings himself was labelled a “trouble” student and could “barely” read or write until he was 15. The Auckland University of Technology professor went on to win national awards for tertiary teaching, filmmaking, and design.
For the full interview, watch the video above
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
