Battleground School and Change

I have always known that politics is significant in determining schools' curriculum. However, I have yet to realize the extent to which global issues pushed specific reform in mathematics education. Given many of these issues' distance, it is hard to feel their effects thoroughly. Despite only experiencing schooling in the mid-2010s, I have seen a drastic change in education. One of the most significant changes I have felt is the reduction in standardized testing. My year was the last batch of students to write the pre-calculus 10 provincial exams and the social studies 11 provincial exams. Since I have been graded on all sorts of things, I never really thought much about it, as up until then, my teacher made us write the final exam. However, I recently discovered that teachers no longer administer final exams to grades 8 and 9 students. Writing these high-pressure final exams has prepared me well for post-secondary as they helped me develop good study habits to ensure I can finish my exams successfully. With this shift, we are not assisting students to prepare for a high-stakes exam, as they will not be used to it. As a teacher candidate with only experience as a student, I sometimes need help understanding the purpose of changes. Until I have more experience as a teacher, my bias with a lack of experience will push me to prefer the old style more than the new. However, change is sometimes good as culture changes, and everyone, even the educational system, must adapt.

---------- Nov. 6, 2023 (Add-on) ----------

As a recent student, I understand the stress of balancing a load of homework and the need to relax. Rather than hammer my classes with homework, I allocate enough class time for students to finish all their homework in class. It will allow the students to spend in-class time asking questions if they need help with the topic. Homework is only helpful for students who know how to approach the questions. If we assign homework and the student already has issues doing them, then what's the point in giving them if they need help solving them? Thus, if students spend class time working on these questions, then it will be apparent to them if they have any questions, and they can ask right away.

While rereading the "Battleground School," the point of math phobia steaming from elementary never really crossed my mind during my initial read. However, after discussing with my SA about why many students coming from elementary have such below-average maths ability, it clicked. Of the points brought up, one of the main reasons why many students struggle with math phobia is their elementary teacher's inability to engage the students in math properly. They either avoid teaching maths altogether or hand out drills, which lowers the student's math confidence. As a result, most of Math 8 should not be used to assess student's knowledge of curricular content but instead should help build their math confidence.

Another exciting point brought up in the reading was related to the need for specialist math teachers at the secondary level. So far, I have yet to see this issue affecting any of the schools that I have seen, but I can assume that for more rural parts of the country, there will be a lack of math specialists. However, I can also say the same with topics like computer science and specific sciences, as many do not want to move to rural parts of the country to teach.