Friday, 4 May 2007

Maxim Institute - real issues - No 251

3 May 2007 www.maxim.org.nz

Smoke and mirrors Revisiting Aristotle NCEA internal assessment under the spotlight again

In The News Tax Freedom Day Report on Maori volunteering

Smoke And Mirrors

Pundits hail a political consensus. National and Labour have done a back-room deal on an amendment to the 'anti-smacking Bill,' and parents apparently no longer have anything to fear. But when the smoke and mirrors are rolled away, the effect of the Bill has not changed. The Bill would still mean that good parents who use mild correction are committing a criminal offence, regardless of whether they are prosecuted.

Search Businesses - FindA

MORTGAGE Calculators

NZ REAL ESTATE Online

Used CARS For Sale - FindA

Looking at EXPORTING?

The amended Bill says that the Police will not have to prosecute 'where the offence is considered to be so inconsequential that there is no public interest in proceeding with a prosecution.' But immediately preceding this is the statement, 'Nothing ... justifies the use of force for the purpose of correction.' In other words, parents who use mild physical force for correction, such as a light smack, will be acting outside the law and subject to Police scrutiny, investigation and possible prosecution.

The problems with this proposal are legion. To begin with, we should only call something criminal if it is worthy of prosecution and conviction. This proposal attempts to fudge the issue and falls foul of this standard. It also gives the Police wide discretion and raises the spectre of discriminatory enforcement. The requirement that prosecution be in the public interest may sound reassuring, but different prosecutors will take different views of what it means, and the Law Commission has said that Police have been known to continue with some cases which are not in the public interest. Significantly, the limitation would only apply to Police, not to other government agencies, and not to private citizens, who are able to prosecute for breaches of the criminal law.

The amended Bill is highly unsatisfactory, but seems likely to be passed in just a couple of weeks with almost no scrutiny or debate.

Read Maxim Institute's Issue Snapshot Section 59: The consensus amendment

Write to the editor

REVISITING ARISTOTLE

What makes a good life? What does a well-lived, happy life look like?

These age old-questions, and the role that relationships play in creating wellbeing have been highlighted again by the release of a new report, Thriving Lives: Which way for wellbeing? The report, released by the UK Relationships Foundation, examines the concept of 'wellbeing'; what it means, how to achieve it, and the role of relationships in a well-lived life.

The report contrasts two classical conceptions of a happy life: the 'hedonic', which seeks pleasure and self-gratification as the primary goal of life, and the 'eudaimonic', defined as '...healthy functioning, achieving personal potential and living a good and meaningful life'. The report suggests that while 'subjective wellbeing' and a degree of personal happiness may be found in hedonism, a 'thriving life' must also include the pursuit of eudaimonia and 'personal growth'. A life well-lived must also involve 'the objective pro-social motivation and ability to make positive contributions to the lives of others'. It therefore requires connection with other people through relationship, as being part of a community is vital for 'healthy functioning.' The report goes on to speak of extended family, marriage, social networks and civil society which give us a sense of belonging, and communities to belong to and contribute to.

Government is severely limited in its ability to create happiness for people. As the report suggests 'the relationships that make for wellbeing cannot simply be legislated into existence.' This is also apparent when one considers that eudaimonia involves a personal decision to live a good life -- where virtue is pursued. Aristotle viewed the good life as involving living in accordance with a mean, where neither indulgence nor drought were pursued. Such a life involves personal self-control, an idea that is counter to the easy credit and materialistic society in which we live.

Shorn of new psychological terms and trendy corporatisms, the report attempts to find a new language to express very traditional concepts about a life of virtue. Drawing explicitly on Aristotle, the report nods at his notion of 'a good life' lived in community, 'practicing' virtue. For Aristotle, as for his classical and mediaeval descendents, the cardinal virtues of temperance, justice, prudence and fortitude were lived out and practised in community and in relationship, with friends, neighbours, family and community.

The private conceptions of a 'good life' lived with virtue led to the common or public good, and to the strength of the whole community. The personal pursuit of pleasure excluding a concept of objective virtue runs counter to this ideal and can only result in a fragmented and broken society.

Read Thriving Lives: Which way for wellbeing?

Write to the editor

NCEA INTERNAL ASSESSMENT UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN

The quality of NCEA marking has come under question again, with NZQA National Moderator's Reports for 2006 now available. They include comments from moderators revealing major flaws in the way some teachers have been teaching certain standards. The reports are produced as part of a process to make sure that internally assessed standards in schools are consistent and reliable.

For example, in Level 1-3 Science some teachers had given too much direction to their pupils in a practical investigation standard, risking making the assessment invalid. Some Level 3 History teachers were not making judgements consistent with the criteria for the grades, especially for Merit and Excellence. And in Mathematics, moderators noted that pupils' responses must be appropriate for the curriculum level of the standard, and that assessment schedules should include the answers expected from pupils to verify that teachers had been marking consistently.

While variation is impossible to completely eliminate, these comments illustrate long-held concerns about the consistency of NCEA internal assessment. Schools, educational experts and the PPTA have commented that internal assessment puts too much responsibility on teachers to interpret the standards correctly to achieve national consistency. This is especially concerning given that for too long the standards have only been vaguely defined by NZQA. Concerns are also warranted when examination of moderation samples from 2006 assessments showed wide variability in the marking: 29 percent of internal assessment grades were wrong; 29 percent of results were higher than external assessment; and in 10 percent of cases the work set was too easy for the standard.

The problem is that NCEA treats internal and external assessment of achievement standards separately, and so wide variation occurs, undermining public confidence in the qualification. What is needed is for the judgements of teachers to be moderated by the results of the more objective external exams sat by pupils. Examples of poor teaching and learning and inconsistent marking in schools could be reduced if the externally assessed NCEA standards were used to establish norms that could be used to moderate the results of the internal assessment. This would improve the reliability of the internal assessment and make it possible for teachers to award consistent pass rates in internally assessed NCEA achievement standards.

Read the NZQA National Qualifications Framework Levels 1–3, 2006 Science National Moderator's Report

Read the NZQA National Qualifications Framework Levels 1–3, 2006 Mathematics National Moderator's Report

Read the NZQA National Qualifications Framework Levels 1–3, 2006 History National Moderator's Report

Write to the editor

IN THE NEWS

TAX FREEDOM DAY

Tax freedom day marks the day on which you stop working for the government to pay your tax bill, and start working for yourself. For the past four years, Tax Freedom Day has been getting later and later in the year. The difference between 2006 and 2007 could be as great as a whole week. The reason behind this continued increase in the tax burden is a disproportionate increase in tax revenue as compared to GDP. As Tax Freedom Day reaches deeper into the calendar, people are losing greater control of the freedom to control their own finances.

REPORT ON MAORI VOLUNTEERING

This week the Office for the Community and Volunteer Sector (OCVS) released Mahi Aroha; a report looking into Maori volunteering. The impetus for the report was data from the 2001 census which showed a significantly higher rate of volunteering amongst Maori. The report finds that volunteering amongst Maori tends to be deeply rooted in a sense of community, best understood by the term 'mahi aroha'. This relates to 'work performed out of love, sympathy or caring and through a sense of duty'. Significantly the report also comments on the negative effect of urbanisation on volunteering as people become separated from each other. The report highlights once again the centrality of connectedness and mutual obligation in building strong communities.

Read Mahi Aroha: Maori Perspectives on Volunteering and Cultural Obligations

TALKING POINT

'the happy man ... will be happy throughout his life; for always, or by preference to everything else, he will be engaged in virtuous action and contemplation, and he will bear the chances of life most nobly and altogether decorously, if he is 'truly good' and 'foursquare beyond reproach'.'

Aristotle

A registered charitable trust, funded by donations, Maxim Institute values your interest and support.

ENDS

© Scoop Media