To tell you how schools changed within 15-10 years

The good thing about PowerPoints is that they can be clicked through by someone who is neither experienced nor qualified.

DD’s school started with this in Year 1. I volunteer in Year 5 and most lessons consist of the (very experienced, very frustrated) teacher clicking through a 35-slide PowerPoint. The kids are bored senseless but apparently (according to SLT) it is ‘best practice’.

Just checked with my 7yo and they have PowerPoints already at that age. I would have been very bored 🥱

This. It's brutal for both children and teachers.

@Redlocks30 I used to work in kids' respite in my former life and I used to wonder how TF schools managed to meet all the personal care and medical needs of pupils, as well as actually provide education, when it had us flat out at the home. I visited a school of a kid I keyworked, joined her in the pool. The support staff were incredibly fast at changing etc, they had to be - they weren't rough in any way but the sheer speed of it all had my head spinning. I can easily see how that would become wearing very fast. This was around 2009. I wonder how things have changed since.

I also really like saying 'dicking about' @noblegiraffe

This is absolutely true. Schools' roles are being added to and expanded upon, similar to the way hospitals are having trouble getting people out of beds because the social care that used to be there to assist with the transition back to home doesn't exist in the same capacity any more. The amount of time schools are expected to keep kids has increased too. My child has been HE since the pandemic, he starts secondary soon and as much as I love the school we've bagged a place at, I'm bracing myself again for more trouble. When he started primary I was so optimistic that it was going to be brilliant for him and we were hugely let down. They actually told me not to bother seeking an autism diagnosis for him because there wouldn't be any additional support for him, they'd just do what they were already doing anyway. All the awareness in the world is useless if nothing can be done to address it.

Both.

Maybe I should qualify it with 'behaviour in my lessons is better than it was under the old policy'. Behaviour is pretty appalling in some other lessons, for various reasons.

Behaviour in my lessons was worst when we had a restorative behaviour policy that effectively meant that if a kid was dicking about in your lesson, you couldn't get rid of them from your lesson. The sanction for poor behaviour was a restorative conversation that massively increased teacher workload with zero impact on behaviour. Low level disruption was a huge issue and just getting the kids to shut up and listen was a constant battle.

Now we have a behaviour policy where I can kick a kid out of my lesson for dicking about pretty rapidly and they will mostly actually leave because they will be excluded if they don't. I actually only use it very rarely, but because it's there and I do use it and kids know that, there is far, far less dicking about and I can actually crack on and teach.

Sone parents though think this behaviour policy is just terrible, far too strict, like they prefer kids to be allowed to dick about in lessons.

And yet those of us who go private supposedly do it to "avoid the Riff Raff"

Great post. Spot on.

You have very much described our catchment academy secondary (which we are moving to dodge), except ours sounds even more utilitarian and punitive. There is next to no music or sport; you wouldn’t know the art room was used for art (stark white walls, no work on display); trips offered only for those children who have achieved 100% attendance; shiny but cramped new building with insufficient outside space (staggered break times; a ‘no running’ rule) etc. Parents make schools choices here based on whether they can ‘cope’ with the school’s regime, not whether they’ll actively enjoy it.

And DD’s historically lovely, warm, creative primary is heading the same way - focus on uniformity and Death By PowerPoint lessons in the core subjects, and creative subjects all but gone. We have found this to be an issue in almost all local schools in our outer London suburb, so are moving out of London in an area that has smaller, slightly more ‘old-fashioned’ schools that have slightly poorer SATs results on paper, but still focus on the whole child and offer at least some kind of creative and outdoor learning (Forest School etc).

I didn't even go into pupil wellbeing. I have never seen the stress levels present in our children the way they are now-anxiety, self harm, school refusing, even in KS1. The testing and high pressure and expectations is having a huge impact.

Yet, the focus is on attendance-'if we get children into school, things will be better' but when school is the problem, this is not a solution. If adults have this sort of level of stress, the GP would probably sign them off-that isn't a possibility-it's just a meeting about how we can get their attendance back to 100%.

Throwing money at mental health practitioners in school (which is mainly ex teachers working at a much lower pay after a year of training) really isn't the great fix they think either! That's a bolt-on sticking plaster which won't help when the problem is school itself.

It's the wilful ignorance by anyone in 'charge' (government/DfE/Ofsted) about how bad it is and the insistence of carrying on as normal with a focus being on 'rigour' and 'attendance'.

The budget is so poor that staffing and resources are stripped to the bone. Classes are huge with growing numbers of very high need pupils in. Expectations are that all needs can be met if teachers 'just' adapt what they are doing, which was possibly fine when it meant-flexible groupings, using a visual table, adding movement breaks and chunking instructions. When it means classes with 5 pupils with ADHD, 4 with ASD, 2 in nappies, one needing hoisting for the toilet, one needing movicol morning and afternoon, one with diabetes needing carbs to be weighed and blood glucose to be monitored throughout the day, but there is only one teacher in there, it's very different.

It's not like the government will say, 'we know this is a massive ask-just keep everyone safe and do your very best with the curriculum', it's

Why haven't you changed your displays?
Your assessment is due in-haven't you done it yet?
We are doing learning walks-why have t you finished X ?
We have been doing book scrutinies-why aren't you prepared?
The IEPs should be updated termly-why is your paperwork behind?
You have a lesson observation on Thursday.
There is training to be done-we can't release you so that needs to be done in your
We are due an Oftsed-your subjects this year are history, phonics and maths-you need to have your folder with data, evidence, children's views and progress in place and will be expected to do interviews, observations and learning walks with the inspectors in at least 2 of these, so be prepared. The Senco is leaving so we want you do that as well-you'll get every other assembly free to do all the paperwork. Beware that Ofsted will have an 'Inclusion' grading now, so that's pretty high profile-sorry, there's no money in the budget to pay you any extra.
We have had parental complains that your children in nappies aren't being changed regularly enough-can you do it more often and make sure they aren't sore? You forgot to give medication on Thursday as well. Other parents are complaining that their children are being ignored and you haven't changed their books this week or heard any of them read -can you please remember our school pledge? We'll be coming to do more learning walks to check that you are doing all this.
You're Upper pay scale now, can you price to us that you are going Alice and beyond for your salary? Otherwise, I'm afraid we will have to look at capability proceedings which will be weekly meetings and observations to assess how you are improving...

There is one teacher in that room being expected to do more and more with less and less. The results still have to be good but nothing ever gets dropped. What happens is, that teacher will break and nobody wants to replace them.

The press make out that teachers are just lazy and part time and when there is talk about Ofsted, there are loud voices saying, 'teachers just want no accountability and of course inspections should be vigorous' but the way things are going, there won't be anyone left to inspect.

So many teachers I know are on anti-depressants, anti-anxiety pills or off sick.

Something desperately needs to change.

I feel the same way - discussions always (understandably) end up being dominated by SEND issues, but as the parent of a very academic daughter I’m looking for something a bit more holistic.

I second what @Neemiesays about single sex schools; we are moving area to access a good one for DD, and everything I’ve seen as a primary teacher, volunteer and governor over the past 15 years leads me to believe that most girls do better in a single-sex environment. Even our local co-ed academy now teaches boys and girls separately for the core subjects as they’ve realised this improves outcomes.

On a wider level, I agree with several posters that we are looking at a full-scale societal crisis in the future, with issues stemming from unmet special needs happening alongside the neglect of our more able (and even in some cases averagely attaining) children - I’m seeing this play out in DD’s current primary, where the focus is almost solely on SEND inclusion and getting those who are struggling to hit ‘Expected’ to improve the headline stats for SATs. There is no interest whatsoever in facilitating more able children to fulfil their potential (indeed, the Head is all about ‘equity’, and not challenging higher attainment pupils allows her to pretend that she has ‘narrowed the gap’ attainment-wise) .

Everything you said in your original post describes my department in the NHS 😢

I agree wholeheartedly. One of my children was receiving no education for a long time. I appreciate the excellent specialist setting my other child attends so much, we know how lucky we are and I would be frightened if we had no choice but to mainstream my kids.

Special schools meet the needs of disabled children much better, but they are segregation. On an individual level they are almost always a good idea, on a society level I think they are not.

I am so conflicted over it all.

Education feels almost unrecognisable from 15 years ago. I agree with so much of what has been said already on this thread. Behaviour is a huge issue and parental support is almost non existent with some children and they are letting their kids down so much as they are just not prepared for the real world. Aspirations are all 'I'm going to be an influencer' or a footballer (this is 15/16 year olds talking, not 10 year olds). U fettered access to the internet has given children unrealistic expectations and so much anxiety about just about everything.

I've had parents push me as I get into my car, name me on social media for giving their child a detention for throwing a chair across the room (she was 'provoked' by being asked to sit down and stop talking) and so many other things it's almost unbelievable. I can't do it much longer and I'm out at the end of this year. I loved my job, it was a huge part of my life, but it's unrecognisable from 15 years ago. I will miss 'teaching' hugely, but it's such a small part of the job now.

I am not a Teacher but I am a Governor so have a bit of insight
Behaviour is bad, the bar is pretty low and a lot of kids can't even reach that. Social Media plays a part but so does bad parenting.
The teachers/SLT have to tiptoe around bad behaviour - the verbal gymnastics I saw a Deputy Head employ to avoid saying "lying litle toerag who has the whole year terrified of you" was pretty impressive.
The kids "know their rights" and many of them are not bothered about getting into trouble
Poverty and deprivation, parents struggling with the basics are less able to parent well in general.
Recruitment is an issue
Our school is actually quite well funded for SEN but despite having funds we can't recruit support staff

Education is a mess. Stressed teachers being covered by supply costs a fortune and the impact is awful for the students. I don’t know why ofsted continues to crack the whip as I can’t see how anything is getting better with the way things are now. There is no way children with complex SEN can be differentiated for adequately in a standard classroom with one supply teacher and 30 other kids.

I agree with a pp, you as a parent have to do as much as you can yourself, even though this is difficult and unfair and expensive.

There isn't a perfect solution. Your children have been segregated into a specialist provision you state you wouldn't want them in mainstream..
I assume they get a better education experience and more of their needs met in the specialist provision.
By contrast there is a huge number of SEN kids who can't get a specialist school place and are being failed in mainstream. My own child can not attend mainstream school but there is no alternative option for us so currently they get no education at all. We are told mainstream can meet needs (they can't), meanwhile child gets no education and the gap which was already huge is getting bigger.
A shack with a small group and SEN teacher giving some type of education experience would be huge improvement.

And alongside the education failing we also have the schools and wellbeing act which removes even more rights from families like ours.

Really surprised at this. Please can show the data? I would I like to see how we compare with other countries. Thanks

It's OK though - pupil numbers are dropping so you can all take the SEN kids from private schools, paid for with a paltry amount of tax that forces them to be put into mainstream education. Who needs to tax billionaires when we can all be poorer?

Winning.

Agree re: TA and support with pastoral needs. This was my experience too as to where TA’s are best deployed (outside very complex 1:1 needs that is).

I do agree with the report that TA’s have little impact on T&L and/or outcomes. I never had any TA as a secondary teacher (and never thought they were needed in this capacity (many do not understand/have any knowledge of the curriculum subject in a secondary setting for a start) and why should they? but they are wonderful as 1:1 for high needs and for meeting and supporting pastoral needs as you say.

I also think schools are too utalitarian now and we, as a society, need to decide what we want schools to be and do (with the funding available) as at the min it’s a ‘jack of all trades’ master of none approach and many children including the invisible hard working middles of the road (future tax papers!) who don’t fall into SEN/GAP group kids - are failed massively too.

very sad all round really.

Biggest changes I have seen in my 25 year career-
Far more pupils with SEN in a mainstream setting that isn’t suitable. We are just told to ‘make adjustments’
Lack of parental support over homework, uniform and attendance.
Class sizes are bigger and buildings are getting more shabby.

IMO rudeness has got worse but big behaviour issues are probably about the same eg smoking has just been replaced with vaping.

All the money that should be spent directly on supporting children and supporting teachers is being spent on supporting the academisation- the layers and layers of fat cat salaries, all duplicating effort- all that 'management' and yet, the experience for pupils and teachers is largely shit.