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Heads say school inspections are "too tough"
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Story.
And, of course, they would say that, wouldn't they? A school is now classed as failing is 10% of the lessons are "unsatisfactory", when it used to be 20%. I ask one question- how is a 10% leeway on crap teaching "too harsh" or unfair. If anything it is too lenient, if 10% of a school's lessons are of appalling quality then those teachers should be learning how to teach properly, ratehr than bleating about how unfair it is that their bad teaching makes a school "fail" its inspection. 10% is very lenient, really; if teachers are unwilling or unable to do the job that they are paid to do, then they should consider taking up a new job.
Not that any of this surprises me; pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Pay a decent wage to teachers and hey, suddenly more able applicants will start wanting to take up the job. If I was to go into teaching I would start on £18,000 pa- I could make £11,000 pa more if I went on to Matalan's graduate scheme, for God's sake- that is never going to attract the most able graduates, unless suddenly everybody comes over all altruistic. Which ain't gonna happen.
And, of course, they would say that, wouldn't they? A school is now classed as failing is 10% of the lessons are "unsatisfactory", when it used to be 20%. I ask one question- how is a 10% leeway on crap teaching "too harsh" or unfair. If anything it is too lenient, if 10% of a school's lessons are of appalling quality then those teachers should be learning how to teach properly, ratehr than bleating about how unfair it is that their bad teaching makes a school "fail" its inspection. 10% is very lenient, really; if teachers are unwilling or unable to do the job that they are paid to do, then they should consider taking up a new job.
Not that any of this surprises me; pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Pay a decent wage to teachers and hey, suddenly more able applicants will start wanting to take up the job. If I was to go into teaching I would start on £18,000 pa- I could make £11,000 pa more if I went on to Matalan's graduate scheme, for God's sake- that is never going to attract the most able graduates, unless suddenly everybody comes over all altruistic. Which ain't gonna happen.
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Comments
Is the inspection too mainly based on teachers? Ok, it might not be the most though out solution to trace every child background and how they've been raised and penalise their parents for bringing them up as 'twats'. However it isn't unrealistic to believe that the students may be the problem; I remember what a little sh*t i was at school!
Its a shame that we find it necessary to recruit teachers from Canada, Austrailia and the rest of the Commonwealth, when British students are looking at the pressure their teachers are under and choosing to work in call centres instead.
When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, teachers were respected and most were inspirational, now they are blamed and castigated by the parents, the media, the politicians and anyone else who wants to cover up their own part in the failings of British youth.
We've just had the Ofsted Inspectors at my college and I've never seen my lecturers as angry as they were in the last couple of weeks. One was told he needed a lesson plan for a subject and syllabus he's been teaching for 25 years and told to mark himself after the lectures to see how it went. Ridiculous! what gets us interested is the obvious depth of knowledge and passion for the subject that he brings into the classroom, the way he challenges you to think about something and discover an understanding you didn't know you were capable of.
Yes, there are teachers out there, who need extra training or a kick up the arse but too many of the good ones are left demoralized by the whole process.
Why
Though as I said in my original post, a lot of teaching problems can be overcome by making it a rewarding job to be in. Unless one is very altruistic then one is not going to be interested in teaching- it doesn't pay well enough. Those who can't teach because those who can can make a lot more money not in the teaching sector- if teachers are going to improve, then pay packets must improve. A teachjer will start on £18,000 pa- that is quite clearly not enough when I could earn £27,000 pa working for Matalan, of all people, as an administrator.
Teachers and lecturers on the whole would welcome assistance on improvement but first of all we would need to look at the resources and funding available to them to do so.
Regarding bad teaching, education has a system where problems are highlighted, the exam results. Also the management system of departmental heads and headmasters. Schools achieving below average results should be concentrated on but I don't mean wading in with jackboots as there can be many factors and reasons why this is happening.
The whole testing culture is going too far, we are looking more for problems than we are for solutions and this is only making things worse.
I personally never considered pay as being a big factor when I was considering a teaching career, I have and can still potentially earn more if I stayed in my previous career, sales and marketing. To get people like myself interested in teaching, the job has to become attractive for reasons other than financial and thats not happening at the moment.