Bringing school leaders up to standard

The watchdog of school performance, the Education Review Office (ERO), last week reported that about two-thirds of school leaders in their sample used "limited or poor processes to monitor the progress and achievement" of Year 1 and 2 pupils. These findings are dire when so much of children's success at school depends on the foundations laid during these early years. Monitoring student progress and achievement adequately is important as it shows us whether children are succeeding as they should be—if not, monitoring gives us the chance to do something about it. This is a timely concern as it coincides with schools preparing to implement national literacy and numeracy standards early next year. The ERO report strengthens the case for such standards, as it indicates that many schools need to develop better processes for assessing and reporting pupils' educational achievement.

The monitoring of student progress and achievement is important as it has multiple flow-on effects for pupils' education. Research indicates feedback is useful for pupils so they can understand how they are doing and where they need to improve. Teachers can also benefit from feedback since they can see how effective their teaching is. Research suggests that when schools have a culture of collecting and sharing information, which they use to reflect on what makes for quality teaching, pupils do better.

The new national literacy and numeracy standards will require all schools with Year 1 to Year 8 pupils to report to parents and the Ministry of Education about their pupils' progress in relation to standards based on the New Zealand curriculum. This means school leaders will have to develop monitoring and reporting processes if they do not already have them. The standards are therefore likely to have a good impact on the concerning findings of the ERO report.

While the findings support the case for the standards, they do not invalidate concerns voiced by some principals and academics about the rushed introduction of the standards. If their introduction is substandard—like the introduction of NCEA was—it could be a massive setback for a generation of pupils. The Government has promised an extra $36 million to support the standards. Given the ERO's findings, the Government could use some of that money to provide assistance to schools that need the most help in improving the way they monitor and report on pupils' achievement. This would help school leaders make the most of the opportunity that national standards presents.

• Read the ERO report, "Reading and Writing in Years 1 and 2"
• Read Maxim Institute's Submission on the National Standards Consultation 2009

Mental health, marriage and New Zealand

Marriage is a decreasing reality for many New Zealanders, with one in three marriages now ending in divorce and fewer people marrying in the first place. This is a concern because marriage has public, as well as private benefits. A recent article published in the journal Psychological Medicine identifies one such benefit. The article reports on research into marriage status and mood, anxiety and substance use disorders, indicating marriage is associated with "reduced risk of the first onset of most mental disorders in both men and women." This signals a protective pattern between marriage and mental health, suggesting that a culture which builds and sustains strong marriages benefits the individual and also society as a whole.

The article titled "Gender and the relationship between marital status and first onset of mood, anxiety and substance use disorders," looks at whether differences in the prevalence of anxiety, mood and substance disorders differ between the married, the never married or the previously married, also distinguishing the effects by gender. The research uses substantial data from the World Health Organisation's World Mental Health survey of 15 countries, of which New Zealand boasted the top sample size. Participants were divided into three categories—never married, previously married (which included those widowed, divorced, separated and remarried), and those still in their first marriage, and then compared marital status with the first onset of mood, anxiety and substance use disorders.

Those who had been previously married and those who had never married were associated with an increased risk of most disorder onsets when compared to those stably married. For men, marriage was particularly protective against depression, and for women, marriage was particularly protective against substance abuse. Prior research has tended to indicate that men benefit from marriage more than women in terms of mental health, but the "wider scope" of this research sheds new light on the benefits marriage has for women's mental health too.

With substance abuse and mental health problems confronting our society every day this research shows that we all have a vested interest in making sure New Zealand marriages work. As a protective barrier against mood, anxiety and substance abuse disorders marriage is an important institution for us to support and cherish. Marriage is a private choice, but even those of us who do not choose it, need to respect and encourage it as a worthwhile institution—a good thing for the individual and also for society at large. We need to support those who are married to give it the best go they can—for all our sakes.

• Read Maxim Institute's research note "The physical health benefits of marriage"
• Read Maxim Institute's research note "The psychological benefits of marriage"

"Ambushed by the grotesque"

Tom Stoppard once wrote, "All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque." Our history is conflicted with stories of great achievements sitting beside horror and tragedy. We live after the Jewish holocaust and in the midst of Darfur. Often we are numb to these horrors, unsure what to do when they confront us. One of the major films of the year, The Reader, explores the questions that come from the "grotesque" parts of our history.

The Reader is set in post-World War 2 Germany. It begins when a 15-year-old school student named Michael meets a much older woman, a bus conductor named Hanna. They have a brief affair before Hanna disappears. Michael turns up to her house one day and finds it completely deserted. A few years later, Michael is studying law, and he attends the trials of Nazi war criminals as part of his study. He is shocked to find that Hanna is one of the defendants. Before their affair, she was a guard who chose prisoners to be taken to gas chambers. The court case centres around one incident in which she and other guards watched 300 women die in a burning church. The film then follows the next thirty years or so of Hanna's legacy, as we see the various ways that people try to go on living, despite being irreparably scarred by her.

Overwhelmingly the sense that you get when watching The Reader is one of shock at the world's contradictions. Germany was an astute country with respect for democracy, yet it went insane in the space of ten years. Hanna, a woman who loves beauty, who cries at the sound of a choir singing in a church, was also somehow able to watch 300 people in a church burn to death.

We are often tempted to rush to explanations of these contradictions; to try and contain our understanding of horrific events, in the hope of reaching understanding. One common explanation has been that our unresolved childhood issues and our natural desires shape who we are and dictate how we behave. While there have been valuable lessons that have come along with psychoanalysis, this idea often leaves us puzzled about how much responsibility to ascribe to people. Was Hanna responsible for her choices or was she a victim of her circumstances?

While we struggle with questions like these, and rightly try to understand what leads someone to behave as they do, this cannot lead us to believe that tomorrow is already determined. While some of us have to wrestle with extraordinary difficulties and injustice, it is still our responsibility to face our circumstances and make the best of them that we can, difficult as it may be. The Jewish holocaust and the genocide in Darfur are exercises in dehumanising masses of people. The way we reject them is to hold onto humanity—to heal, to choose well, to tell the truth.

This is a summarised version of an article that appears on our website.

• Read the full review, "When we are ambushed by the grotesque."

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