Teacher's Diary in Private Eye

[Davros]

Has anyone else read the centre section of the latest PE? I can't see anywhere if its truth or fiction, either way its riveting!

[Janh]

Dunno, Davros - someone has referred to it in another Education thread as if it's genuine. The P Eye webpage says:

[hoxtonchick]

I read it Davros, you're right it was riveting. I seem to remember the blurb at the front said it was real but the names had been changed. Scary either way I reckon...

[Tissy]

I saw it, too. My brother (who teaches history in a secondary school) reckons it is genuine. Scary and sad. Now considering going against all my principals and sending dd to a private school!

[Hulababy]

Not seen this. Is it worth a read (bearing in mind I teach)?

Maybe some of the teachers on MN should keep diaries too to see if they compare???

[fisil]

Is it by someone called Francis Gilbert? If it is then it is genuine.

[hoxtonchick]

The byline said A. Teacher so no help there.

[Davros]

Hulababy, it is worth reading for us non-teachers as you'll probably know that teaching can be like this but it would be interesting to hear your perspective. I suppose it might be a worse case scenario although it is written in a way that makes it sound like its a fairly usual experience.......

[hmb]

I haven't read it myself. It has been discussed on the Times Ed websites and has been felt to be genuine and roughly accurate. It has been commented that the teachers did have a lot of difficult classes and either he didn't describe lessons in 'good' classes, or he had an awful timetable!

[BadHair]

Yes its genuine. The teacher is from Telford and this was in the Shropshire Star newspaper about it last night.

[hmb]

Thanks for posting that link.

Having read it, it sounds quite believable. The majority of my classes are not as bad as that, but some are very similar. I have had a child walk into a class and grab the legs of another student and try to throw her over a table. She was very surprised that I objected to her behaviour and didn't think that she had done anything wrong as the girl was a friend.

It is not uncommon for children to do no work in lessons unless they are chivied constantly. You often get a mouth full of abuse while you encourage them to work. I once moved a girl who was not working (had given her 3 warnings) and she called me a bitch.

Children coming to class without pens, pencils etc is very common. In lower sets it is not unusual to have a quarter of children forgetting their books in any one lesson.

Large numbers of children will talk, constantly, even when a teacher is giving instructions for activities (which are often interesting), you then spend another 10 minutes telling the kids what they have to do, as they ignored you the first 3 times.

I think that the standards of behaviour in class would be a nasty shock to most parents. I know that it came as a shock to me when I first went into a classroom 3 years ago. It is very different to when I was in school in the 60s and 70s. Some changes have been for the better. But the behaviour in class is much worse, and this is to the detriment of the pupil's learning.

[tigermoth]

I haven't read the private eye piece, but want to now. I think teachers have an incredibly hard job - one that I could no do well.

I have just read the Shropshire Star piece and so agree with this comment, quote "The teacher concludes: "Some teachers have a natural ability to control. I know teachers who can walk into a room and all in there instantly fall quiet.

"I am not one of these teachers; they are very rare. There are perhaps three teachers with this ability among a staff of 40 in my school. Some of their skills are transferable and can be learned, but much of what they have is innate." unquote.

This is exactly why I never wanted to become a teacher. I went to good secondary schools, where behaviour was ok mostly. But still, everyone knew you could mess around in certain teachers classes but with others, their word was law - they just had that way about them.

[Marina]

I thought it was rough luck on the teacher in question that he seemed to mainly have sets with very challenging children in them. He did cover for one top set lesson and the difference in behaviour was very marked because the children wanted to learn. I found it a very sad piece - I know from comments on here that many teachers have to put up with this sort of thing, but the relentlessness of his experiences really upset me. It brought it home to me how wearing life must be for so many teachers.
Like Tigermoth, I never even contemplated teaching because I sensed deep down that I'd be fine with motivated classes (wouldn't we all after appropriate training?) and useless with troublesome ones. Being a librarian is a perfect cop-out - involved in education, which is so worthwhile, without the classroom nightmare

[slug]

By paragraph 2 I was howling with laughter. I teach maths in a college and it was EXACTLY true. I work with slightly older students, but just change the ages and that's my working week to a T.

Oh lordy, back at work this morning and my very first class had 2 students in on time, one arrived 40 minutes late with no pen, pencil or paper. Just another day at the chalkface.

[Bugsy2]

I read it and was both amused and horrified. I thought it was written to entertain but I was really shocked that teachers had to cope with so much "crap"!

[Thomcat]

I saw it and posted something about it on the thread about a teacher being injured every however minutes it was.

Even if it wasn't an actual diary of an actual teacher elements of that must be true for a large number of teachers out there which is scary enough. As I was reading it it seemed totally believable and therefore incredibly sad and frustrating and I felt worn out for him.
It was a great read.

[Moomin]

The teacher himself was on Midlands Today tonight. Seemed like a nice bloke. He's teaching young offenders now and he says it's a doddle compared to 2ndary school! They also asked his old school to comment and most teachers they interviewed were actually quite defensive of the school and said the classes he taught were not typical of pupils generally at the school (but they WOULD say that I spose?!)
He also said he felt let down by the school but sadi he felt he'd let some of his pupils down as well by his inability to teach them successfully. I don't think teachers can win really, can they?