Aus: Forget the fads and flapdoodle

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/artic ... flapdoodle

Forget the fads and flapdoodle

Julie Mavlian

10 FEBRUARY 2017

Teachers need to understand best practice and reading research so they are not influenced by ineffective methods, expensive educational fads, and meaningless jargon like ‘neuroplasticity’. The Australian Education Union appears to be under such influence.

The AEU Victoria is hosting and promoting an event with Barbara Arrowsmith, the ‘Woman Who Changed her Brain’ — and, some say, her bank balance. The Arrowsmith program claims to address specific learning difficulties through strenuous written, visual, auditory, computer and cognitive exercises, or brain training. Unfortunately research has shown that brain training skills do not generalise to other situations, even if they are similar.

Alarmingly the Arrowsmith program has been around for over three decades, and has no published, independent empirical data to support its effectiveness.

Public and private schools alike have been seduced by its claims, and are using their education funding to buy an Arrowsmith license, and then charge parents thousands in additional fees for their children to participate.

Do read the whole post!