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By taking an oath and getting a compass. FFS is it April fools day? http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29482160
Yes, because years of pay freezes, massive amounts of pointless paperwork, sudden curriculum changes, and stealing from our pensions have nothing to do with teacher demoralisation. Please give me a compass, I'll be a good teacher from now on.
and I thought giving each school a bible was pointless. I'd by happy with some gluesticks and board pens rather than buying them myself. If this retardo**** thinks getting us to swear an oath is a better idea than providing us with some basic tools of the job then they can get ****ed I'll be found in the private sector thanks.
?
Racing ahead: Singapore's streets were recently used for a Grand Prix
Well, that's relevant.
Is the compass to find your way back to school after your long holidays?
Sorry someone had to say it.
I think the compass is so we can see which direction the current education sec is going to disappear up his own arse in.
Haha!
I have a British friend who is out in Singapore at the moment. He says there are huge expectations that most of the learning and support is done at home (self/supported study) or using private tutors. Very pressured education and not whole child focussed at all. He did not paint a rosy picture for those children that are not very very academic.
I think there is also a tax of £50,000 if you want to own a car too - that would make cycling on our roads a bit safer!
[url= http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7397 ]Something to cheer up ajantom [/url]
the guessing game that is 'how much more 541t can the labour party get?' just keeps turning up surprises doesn't it?
Private sector teachers get the same pension as state school teachers. Not sure about pay rates but everyone I know who has made the jump to a similar role has been paid more.
Dib dib dib dob dob dob, I oromise to do my best for [s]God and the Queen[/s] the education secretary
An oath, yes that will fix things. This from Labour after theyve just come within 600 votes of a bu-election defeat.
We absolutely shouldn't copy Singapore, a hot house sustem of rote learning with no place for creativity and freedom of expression. The political system is such that you will only ever see positive news about Education out of there. Bas mews isnt tolerated, perjaps the UK MPs are hoping for the same
I think you need to factor in that (imho) the best opportunity most people ever have to negotiate salary raises is at joining time - consider the following job advert - "Fantastic new opportunity, great employer, fabulous conditions, exactly same salary as before" - ? would you bite.
(Also do the private sector take on 'raw' teachers from Uni ie are they doing the age old trick of paying a premium salary which is possible as they spend nothing atall on graduate training/employee development type schemes - plenty of smaller IT firms did this, hence most of my contracts now have a 2 year training costs clawback section to stop people getting trained/extra qualifications[paid for by company] and nipping off immediately for a better deal)
Not that the buffoon has any chance of becoming education secretary.
The only reason I think there hasn't been a revolt in the lower echelons of the PLP is because any likely candidates are waiting for the inevitable Miliband train crash to happen before picking up the pieces after the election, and of course having risen through the 'Labour' hierarchy in the last two decades they are cut from the same cloth.
Maybe UKIP might paradoxically do the progressive movement a favour by causing the 'Labour' party to fragment and so opening a vacancy for a really progressive party to take its place.
He has just been on the radio accepting that it was small thing in a large package of measure to improve the perception of teachers and learning within the community/society.
Whatever we wish to say respect for and admiration of teachers has declined
Will this work ? I doubt it but it is at least an attempt at the right thing
This from Labour after theyve just come within 600 votes of a bu-election defeat.
What would you say if one of their MP's left [ then another just after] stood for your main [ right wing]opposition party whacked you into a humiliating defeat as your own vote capitulated in not one but two by -elections with a third to come? Apparently it is not a thing you will just focus on how bad it has been for labour
Its pathetic distraction attempt for your own parties woes.
you would be better of either
1. Facing up to the actual challenge UKIP face to the Tories/right wing
or
2. Facing up to the actual challenge UKIP face to the Tories/right wing
Shouting about labour's problems is a bit loony IMHO
It is ignoring the burning building of the ruins of the tory party to talk about the smoke wafting across labour land.
[b]English[/b] teaching profession to be saved
FTFY
Yes we still do have all sorts of cuts, too much paperwork and the many varied teaching stresses.
But, we already have Professional Update where teachers demonstrate their learning and work, including a commitment to 'Learning for Sustainability' and core values of teaching.
We also have Curriculum for Excellence (not perfect, but damn good). This is backed up by Education Scotland and a lot more freedom to teach in the way you see fit. (again, not reflected in all schools yet)
We also have GTCS (who I have had personal battles with), but who's mantra is - you want higher standards, train and invest in teachers. Then train and invest them more.
He stands a very good chance of being the next education minister/secretary or given his "hot" status in labour circles even higher roles await. This is what you get when you let politicians get in the way. Why the surprise?
But 'Labour' would have to be elected first and I don't see that happening at the next election.
anagallis_arvensis - Member
If this retardo**** thinks
Even by recent standards, that comment/description is ridiculously wide of the mark.
Wait, this is Labour? Not Gove's latest brainfart?
They stand as good a chance as anyone at the moment.
Ben keep up 🙂 Gove moved on a while ago! Although TBF, TH doesn't fill your normal labour stereotype does he!
Finland is the other country we're regularly compared to and found wanting.
Finland does this Finland does that, how can we be more like Finland blah blah blah?
Simple, more than double the number of teachers so that we have ratios of 1:12 like them. Is that being discussed? Not likely.
As usual money is the nub of it. BS like that being spouted by labour is just to deflect attention away from the woeful lack of investment in education.
Towzer. Did you read the article you posted. I dont think it says what you want it to. It says that well qualified people get paid less in the public sector.
Oh and private schools take newly qualified teachers and experienced teachers and dont take on training costs for the most part.
Many prefer to spend money on season tickets or MTB or expensive cars at the school gate than invest in education. You get what you pay for in the end.
Even by recent standards, that comment/description is ridiculously wide of the mark.
Got anything to add or are you just happy to sling personal insults?
Wait, this is Labour? Not Gove's latest brainfart?
Exactly @ben, just what I thought when I opened it up.
JY with 7 months to go before a general election the Labour party need to be bringing their A game and making a positive impact. So what do they do, they present this hogwash.
And a Labour guy called Tristram?!
Ben keep up
I'm trying not to 😀
If the oath and compass weren't included, it's a commitment to qualified teachers and investment in CPD. I think that's positive.
You get what you pay for in the end.
I think you mean get what you can afford to pay.
All of these things are cheaper than private education and the later is that for 11 years
Nearest one to me is 10 k per year for example - that is some bike and season ticket holder - not a great car I grant you but it will still have value after 1 year.
Were you suggesting we pay more tax and invest this in education?
Jam of course their A game would get your vote [just like the Tory A game would get mine] as it is easy to tell you are an undecided floating voter 😉
If the oath and compass werent included it would just be pointless words.
Interesting notion of a 'master teacher' and creating a career path that keeps good teachers teaching. My dad was a totally in-the-blood teacher - even when he was a student he'd teach at the same college he was studying at on saturdays - he later dropped out of the Royal College of Art to study teacher training instead. But the nature of the career structure was if you were really good you get promoted out of the class room. By just 35 he'd progressed his way out of schools entirely, into training teachers and then into the IAS, by 50 he'd run out of career and was out of the eduction sector entirely. There are now teacher-training scholarships in universities in countries he's never even visited named after him, because his teaching was held in such high regard, but the reality is he was only in the classroom for about 10 years
I am not the one making insults, look in the mirror (yes you can report this too) - merely pointing out that your description of Hunt is ridiculously wide of the mark. He may be mistaken here, but he is intelligent and well educated.
Teachers throwing comments involving "retard" is also wide of the mark. But we do have different views on teaching don't we?!?
Teachers throwing comments involving "retard" is also wide of the mark
I agree.
Labour will abolish Free Schools, require all teachers to be qualified, recouple AS and A2.
Sadly, they're still obsessed with parental choice when most parents just want the school at the end of their street to be good enough.
Instead you get a patronising oath and a cheap compass. As if teachers weren't committed to doing the best they can for their pupils, 'Labour' think they need to swear an oath to do so. That - 'Labour's' attitude - is the problem here. I can imagine many of their teacher supporters reading this proposal and thinking "WTF?!".
Teachers throwing comments involving "retard" is also wide of the mark.
Shit, I agree with thm on an education thread.
am not the one making insults, look in the mirror (yes you can report this too)
It may surprise you but I have never reported you for anything. If you get banned its not my fault.
Teachers throwing comments involving "retard" is also wide of the mark.
Wide of the mark or inappropriate? The later I can accept, although I'm not in school so dont care. The former I think is correct, its plain ****ing stupid to come out with such bollocks even if his name is Tristam and hes well educated.
The worst thing about this is the subtext blaming teachers.
The biggest issue being missed here is parental support. The work ethic is not promoted by many parents; without it teachers face an uphill struggle (perhaps we need an altimeter as well as a compass?!?).
Indeed it is - the only factor that seems to enjoy universal support.
Perhaps they could introduce a parents oath - before I put the down payment on the X5 I will make an investment in my child's education or rather than going for a ride I will spend time reading with them first?!?
thm, not many (if any) of the parents at my kids'state schools drive X5s. The kids who are really under performing are not the ones whose parents have posh cars.
Most people are not choosing a life of luxury over paying for private education, and all the evidence shows state education is better than private.
Very true Mike the kids not doing well are in lower socio economic levels. Not sure about evidence of state being better than private though. Would be very hard to compare..
The state vs private comparison was when controlling for socioeconomic factors, though my Sunday-morning-Googling-from-my-phone attempts to find a supporting link has failed.
I blame my state education 😉
Is the reception poor in the X5 😉
I found the Singapore comparison curious. A mate, who's had a permanent interest in cricket, worked there for many years. He commented that he never saw children out after school playing games as we did growing up. The pressure to keep up at school kept them indoors doing homework or whatever.
He felt that they missed out on fitness and social skills.
(edit) And will they apply such high standards in Westminster?
will they apply such high standards in Westminster?
[url= http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/oath-of-allegiance/ ]MPs already swear an oath[/url], and we've seen how well they perform.
I've taught kids from Singapore and while the work ethic was astounding the ability to think was poor. They did well in Maths and "logic" follow the method subjects until an open question came up when the majority just could't cope with the possibility that there was more than one approach to answering the questions.
Scotland introduced Chartered teachers to keep the good ones in the classroom. training was paid for partly by the teachers. It was stopped through short sightedness.
Oh and funny as being a Tristram is more pertinent is the fact he is Tristram Hunt which would be better than if Ed Balls had made it to Ed Sec.
We have world class education in the UK attracting students from Singapore and elsewhere in Asia. And yet, rather than celebrating and learning from this, we obsess with learning from other counties and deriding our own excellence. In fact, we deliberately try to damage our own centres of excellence with bizarre calls to even ban some of them.
Education, like health, is a strange, strange business!!
Oh how the [s]Brits[/s] English love their teachers (not). Even on STW it's best to don flame retardant clothing before posting anything positive about the profession. Who'd be a teacher, eh? Under pressure from kids, their parents, the bosses, the other meddlers who stick their noses in the running of a school, the politicians, the Daily... . A hiding to nothing, which perhaps explains why many of the really competent teachers I've known over the years haven't set foot in a school for years; the loss is to society, not them.
In fact, we deliberately try to damage our own centres of excellence with bizarre calls to even ban some of them.
Could you highlight specific examples to support this claim?
Sadly, they're still obsessed with parental choice when most parents just want the school at the end of their street to be good enough.
This, this and this.
Junkyard I expect he's talking about Eton[i] et al[/i]
3 things would actually make a difference. Much is made of the 'why do independent schools do better' debate; I think it's down to this...
1. More teachers and smaller classes, thus allowing teachers to deliver less lessons and thus be better able to prepare, mark and meet with students 1-2-1 to offer advice.
2. Parental attitudes to success.
3. Stop government fiddling with things. New specs, new inspection regimes, new regulatory requirements. I give you the example of our maths and Geography departments, who have taught the same (ish) specs for the past 20 and 10 years respectively. Unsurprisingly the results are very good.
In any school there will be some curriculum areas that get better results than others. Good management is about spreading this success elsewhere.
I don't need a bloody compass. What a moron.
GB
Private schools get A level and GCSE specs changed the same as state. Mostly it boils down to having more engaged kids having more money spent on them. I doubt Eton would do very well with some of the classes I teach.
Teachers dont need a compass as most young kids know there is only "ONE DIRECTION" and Harry Styles is the Son of a God. .
Who is Harry Stiles? I am so not down with the kids!
2. Parental attitudes to success....3. Stop government fiddling with things.
Job done. Easy really.
Ignore both and we end up with all the current shenanigans trying to correct the obvious consequences.
How do we change parental attitudes then? Spotting the problem is easy, doing something about it isnt.
Scotland introduced Chartered teachers to keep the good ones in the classroom. training was paid for partly by the teachers. It was stopped through short sightedness.
It wasn't really short sightedness that stopped it. It was just really poorly thought out and administered. Write some essays, get a pay rise was the format with no thought given to the quality of applicants and no mechanisms put in place for them to share their good practice. Some of the worst teachers I know will get paid 6+ grand a year more than top of the regular scale for the rest of their careers because they got on the CT scheme.
How do we change parental attitudes then?
What that question really means is 'how do we fix society'
The bloke is a complete idiot.
What value is there is any oath that is in any way even slightly forced. It has no point. If he had the slightest clue about education he would try useful things like cut class sizes, give the schools enough money and remove paperwork and the pressures of an inspection system that is only satisfied when they fail you. Never herd of the cretin before but would I be safe in assuming that he isn't a teacher?
If he is he should hang his head in shame and if not he should shut up as he has nothing to say that has value.
CT scheme seems very similar to AST scheme down here, now defunct too.
We have world class education in the UK attracting students from Singapore and elsewhere in Asia. And yet, rather than celebrating and learning from this, we obsess with learning from other counties and deriding our own excellence. In fact, we deliberately try to damage our own centres of excellence with bizarre calls to even ban some of them.
Are those parents sending their children here because the schools are better, or because they want them to get in on the Old School Tie gravytrain?
They're also, presumably, not reading with the kids that they've sent to the other side of the world?