Tuesday 22 May 2012

The Word Slippery Springs To Mind

The Messiah

Come up with your own caption:

Maths Teachers Are Rubbish

In his latest assault on the teaching profession, the Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw claims that maths teachers are letting all children down. The school system is so focused on the C grade that the best mathematicians are not being stretched, those who fall behind early in their educational career are just left to flounder, and exams are getting easier.

As a maths teacher I would like to try to justify, maybe defend, the maths teacher's predicament.

  1. C grade being a Holy Grail - whose fault is this? Ofsted's, the very body Sir Michael heads. Schools are judged on their A* to C grade percentage, and for some reason the government and public seem to think that Ofsted know what they are talking about. Smell the coffee people, Ofsted don't have a clue what they are on about. The quango is made up of failed and ex-teachers who have little idea how modern classrooms work. Wilshaw himself has had success at a local level, but that's because he got rid of people who didn't toe his line. That's the path the Children's Minister told me our school should go down, and is easy to do on a local level, but what they all forget is that the children have to go somewhere. They can't be left to roam the streets surely.
  2. Those children who fall behind are always going to flounder, because if they struggle with the basics, they are going to struggle with the tougher stuff - obvious, no? Not everyone can get a C grade (a pass in real terms), or the pass mark would have to be raised. This government, and in that breath I include Ofsted, who although apparently independent, are just a government vehicle, are fixated on getting everyone a C grade or higher. It's not going to happen I'm afraid - some people just aren't very good at maths. Fact! Not the teachers' fault.
  3. Exams are easier - not the teachers' fault either.Government have allowed exam boards to be privatised, which has led to exam boards trying to attract customers. The more A* to C grades candidates achieve, the more customers you have, the more money you make. Simples.
The "celebrity" mathematician Alex Bellos was on BBC Breakfast this morning and hit the nail firmly on the head when he said something along the lines of:

The problem with maths in this country is cultural. People are happy to say that they are rubbish at maths, but they would never admit to not being able to read.

Spot on Alex - not teachers' fault! Wilshaw - shut up you idiot!

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Performance Related Pay

Michael Gove announced that the DfE would be pushing for teachers to be paid in line with their students' results, as suggested by the Education Select Committee.

Head of Department: "Who wants to teach the bottom set?"
Try to avoid the crush as the entire department rush for that one!

This is the latest in a line of policies that will drive teachers out of the profession. There will be numerous people who work in the private sector who will say "I can't see the problem - that's what we have". I can understand that things could be seen like this, but there's one vital factor that is being ignored: "children".

Now the drive behind this is to improve standards of teaching and encourage the better teachers by paying them more, at the same time getting rid of poor teachers. Again I have no problem with this theory, the trouble is that a good, even outstanding teacher could appear to be inadequate depending on the class sat in front of them. Some children are simply unteachable, whatever you do, and somebody has to teach them because they have to be somewhere. This could affect that teacher's pay through no fault of the teacher, which I think you'd agree is unfair.

The government want all children to aspire to great things, but what they fail to grasp is that not all have or will ever have any aspirations beyond their state provided home, sofa, satellite TV and any other vices they may take a shine to. It's like trying to force a car to go at 100mph when it has no petrol in it; it ain't gonna happen.

Politicians seem fixated on getting everyone "above average" (I know that's impossible by the way, if only the politicians did), and squeezing teachers in order to do this. The lack of aspiration in the country, due to being able to live relatively well on benefits is the issue, as children learn these attitudes from their parents. But millions of voters being slated by politicians isn't the way to win elections; destroying a profession annoys far less people; a no-brainer.

Unions are up-in-arms of course, but cleverly the government are getting all these unpopular policies out at the same time to make it appear that the unions are whinging constantly which goes on to erode any public support they may have.

No wonder election turnouts are so low: they are all pathetic excuses for human beings with no idea what goes on outside of their publicly funded mansions, and therefore not worth the effort of voting for.

My dream: we have an election that no-one actually votes in. It might actually send a message, although no doubt there will be someone paid a lot of money to put a positive spin on it.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Stress - count yourself lucky

Sir Michael Wilshaw has been at it again saying that today's teachers are not stressed but have never had it so good, to coin a phrase. He goes on to say that when he was a teacher, stress really did exist, but not now, in what sounds like the Monty Python sketch along the lines of "I had to get up before I went to bed, lick the road clean etc".

You have to read the article, and like trying not to chew a Fruit Pastille, try not to allow your jaw to smash onto the floor as you get further into it.

Click Here!

The bloke will always astound me as he alienates every member of the teaching profession. This speech to a load of independent school heads attacked the one group who may have some sympathy for him and his policies, namely current headteachers. He stated that teachers use stress, Ofsted, the local authority, the government and a whole host of other people to blame for their inadequacies.

This despite the fact that teaching is regarded as the third most stressful job by the Health and Safety Executve. You'd expect them to know what they are on about, although they are a government agency. My inability to sleep for more than 4 hours per night during term time despite the fact that I sleep like a log during the holidays is purely coincidental I suppose. 

I'm not going to actually type what I think of him, but be reassured that the one word I'm thinking of begins with the third letter of the alphabet.

Sunday 6 May 2012

No Notice Inspections - Who Cares?

Everyone thinks that teachers/schools/headteachers are scared of no notice Ofsted inspections, and the cowardly Michael Gove back-tracked on those in front of an audience of headteaches in Harrogate.

Let's get one thing straight, most teachers have absolutely no problem with no notice Ofsted inspections at all, as long as ridiculously detailed lesson plans aren't required, as they currently are. The lesson plans apparently required by Ofsted inspectors are of no use to teachers, and if the inspectors themselves can't tell what the teacher is teaching then either that teacher deserves an inadequate grade or the inspector shouldn't be observing or judging lessons - my guess is that the latter is almost always the case.

The only people who don't want no notice inspections are poor teachers and headteachers - I have said for years that inspections should be like "drop-ins" so that the inspectors see what usually happens rather than to souped up, one-off lesson as a show.

The problem is, and this is the real problem that teachers have with Ofsted, many inspectors have little or no recent classroom experience, if any at all, and often have no knowledge of the subject they are observing. Their judgements can make or break schools as well as teachers and are ill-informed and generally pre-judged.

Add to that the negative rhetoric of new Chief Inspector of Schools Sir Michael Wilshaw and Ofsted are now totally unfit for purpose, doing the exact opposite of their apparent mission to "aid the improvement of schools". Their new mission seems to be the demoralisation and destruction of the teaching profession, with Wilshaw himself saying that teacher morale is "unimportant".

Ofsted reports are good for nothing other than toilet paper, and they are not even very good for that.

Saturday 5 May 2012

I Can Hear The Beeping Of A Reversing Politician

It must be in the genetic make-up of a politician to make a bold, inflammatory statement and then retract at a far faster rate when they suddenly realise that these policies are both unworkable and unpopular. And so it comes to the turn of the Secretary of State for Education to putting his blunder bus into reverse on Ofsted inpsections whilst speaking to the National Association of Head Teachers. This isn't the first time when actually faced with talking to real people in education that Michael Gove has said stuff that will get him out of the room in one piece.

The "no-notice inspections" have been scrapped apparently, although Gove didn't manage to say what would replace them, which may suggest that he has no idea and was in fear of a lynching had he not made the comment. This also comes at a time when headteachers are being encouraged to report on the inspectors via a website the newly set up School View website, with cries of a lack of consistency and of inspectors having made up their mind before even arriving in school. It's something that I've experienced, so I know it goes on but what will that actually achieve? Headteachers will not want to rock the boat for fear that if they complain, the repercussions during the next inspection could be disasterous.

Gove also questionned whether Ofsted inspectors are paid enough at a mere £60,000 per year - more than most teachers, or should I say more than every regular classroom practioner in the country in a bid to encourage "the best" people to become inspectors. Outrageous suggestion - these people are parasites on the education profession and should be paid nothing. Any encouragement to force the collapse of the quango should be shouted from every rooftop in the country.

I notice that Gove made no reference to his deeply unpopular policy of forcing schools in to academy status, especially the day after the DfE asked dozens of academies to pay back their share of £15 million, due to a mis-calculation in Whitehall over the usage of predicted roles instead of actual roles. This will mean, according to the news, that the academies will each have to pay back around £200,000 and could lead to disaster for those institutions, unless their financial managers spotted the error, which one would assume is a little unlikely. Not  great advert for educational independence.

Until the British public vote by spoiling their ballot papers or not turning up at all, these idiots in Westminster will think that they are important and wrap themselves up in their own self-importance, surrounded by "Yes" men and women destroying the public sector. It makes no difference what their political affiliations are as all parties seem to have similar, if not identical policies designed to destroy the public sector.

Rant over.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Make Maths Workplace Relevant

This article appeared on the BBC website: Here!

I totally agree, the problem being that when we already do this sort of stuff (it's not a new idea) most of the kids will say "I'm never going to do that kind of job". I had over half of my Year 9s claim that they would never work in a office the other week.

Essentially it boils down to child apathy and/or laziness. It doesn't matter what you do, many of the kids can't be bothered, simple as that. Make the curriculum more relevent, they say, but as so few children have any idea or inclination about what to do once they leave school, a lot of money, time and effort will be wasted rewriting the curriculum only for it to be slated by public and politicians alike.

A lose/lose situation.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Come and have a go if you think you're clever enough

Making sixth formers trying teaching to encourage the high achieving students of the UK to join the teaching profession is the latest plan from those in Westminster. I can see the logic, sort of, the only problem being that those sixth formers will only see a rose-tinted version of what teaching is, not the day in, day out abuse that teachers put up with.

It seems a remarkable change of tack from the Department for Education to start saying things along the lines of "Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the government valued teachers highly, but many top graduates chose other careers." The government has been slating the profession ever since it got into power, but just after figures stating that there are 10,000 less teachers than a few years ago come out, panic buttons are being pulverised in Whitehall.

What is reassuring is that many people who commented on the story on the BBC website (see the article here) seem to agree that teaching really isn't the way forward for anyone who wishes to have any form of job satisfaction. I am a mentor for trainee teachers at my school and always ask new student teachers whether they are absolutely sure that they have made the correct career choice. Many teaching posts are inundated with applications, certainly in certain subjects, but the quality of the applicants is questionable. The culture of allowing almost anyone to undertake a teacher training course has been disasterous for the profession, but can you blame the universities as bums on seats equals more money?

Top graduates can demand a far higher wages in other professions, and even if they did feel that they could sacrifice the financial benefits of working in industry, top graduates often make very poor teachers due to the fact that they find their subject easy and therefore have trouble explaining concepts that are simple for them, to others who aren't as gifted in that area.

The policy is also insulting because politicians are implying that anyone can do it. If anyone could do it surely they would take the opportunity to claim their 13 weeks holiday per year by signing up; or perhaps not.

Every time a politician speaks I just want to shout "idiot" - they are totally clueless about how any of the public services actually work, whether it be teaching, nursing, policing or whatever. They are only interested in winning votes at whatever cost they deem necessary.

No-one wants to become a teacher these days because it is a terrible job, with increasingly poor pay and awful conditions of service, alongside continual public derision, a lack of social discipline and zero public or parental support due to political interference as well as derisory portrayals of the profession through the media.

The profession is dead, and no amount of sucking up by an inconsequential politician will change that.