More money for teachers plus stricter discipline in schools - Tory leak

Must get that, though with all the PE teachers ...sometimes...

English textbooks have always been a bit shit.

I really notice this in film : lots of no specialist teachers who just want someone else's subject knowledge.

We quite famously had an NQT who had to check whether Shakespeare was Victorian.... and another one who teaches that Macbeth is Elizabethan (not an NQT). this sort of thing is explicitly tested in English. I guess you could argue that if it's on a ppt the teacher won't get it wrong, but the knowledge needs to be at the fingertips.

Subject knowledge is definitely becoming an increasing issue with the decline of academic calibre of trainees....

I agree you also need to know how to transmit it, but I think, some great books on English teaching aside, this is less complex and more obvious/ same as it was in school in English.

Thank you!

Another teachertapper hello!

I agree totally with that article. My student teacher last year really struggled to get to grips with lesson design that wasn't based on someone else's PowerPoint.

I made them by the end do tech free lesson other than a board, the visualiser and pens.

Interesting article on the reification of the 'resource' on TeacherTapp today coincidentally. Have no idea how to copy and paste it..
But basically, yes, says subject knowledge is being eroded.

piggy

I am in a Facebook group for teachers and many new entrants really do not expect to plan anything.

Absolutely. There are quite a few trainees we have had whose idea of planning is typing in the topic they are teaching into the TES resources and just printing out the first thing they find, regardless of age, appropriacy, level.

TAs need to be well trained, but they also need to be well used. A good friend used to be a TA in a primary school and had some depressing stories about how she was used by some teachers. As an example, for a certain number of hours she supported a particular child on a 1:1 basis. If the child was absent, she'd ask the teacher what they wanted her to do instead. She was often told just to sit quietly at the back of the class. Such a waste of a resource.

I also laughed at the comment re TA getting in the way.

I’m sure people also have anecdotes about awful TAs too, to be fair. The main issue is having the funding to have well trained TAs, where they are needed and that they are not pushed about due to funding proposals. Something has to give and I hope it isn’t the TAs.

Personally, I couldn’t give a toss about any pay rises unless they come from a separate budget. Where I would like the money to go is on school buildings, specialist staff, resources and the correct support for all pupils. The problem currently is that a ‘pay rise’ makes for a good sound bite but when it has to come from already low existing budgets, it doesn’t help (as an experienced teacher, my school didn’t pass on the last ‘pay rise’ to us)

I remember people talking fondly about Estelle Morris but to be honest, can’t remember anything about her. I just think it is too big a beast to ever make a decent positive dent in improving things, pessimist that I am.

The use of reasonable force document was updated in July. (Or maybe June).

Schools and teaching staff/admin staff etc have a duty if care to safeguard.

Reasonable force is pretty much what a parent does. It sickens me that if a child was about to run Into a main road and a teacher grabbed them and pulled them back - a parent will complain. Because I'd bet my life the parent would react the same way. Same as separating fighting siblings, stopping them injuring themselves in a kitchen etc.

What the HT did above is not reasonable force. That was using force for power and control.

I also laughed at the comment re TA getting in the way. In a local special school and new teacher made a comment to his TA basically saying they were a hinderance and he didn't really need them. (When truth was they were far more knowledgable about the pupils and special ed than he was).
They then all 'happened' to have a sickness bug that lasted 5 days all at the same time.
Things had gone tits up 2 hours into day 1.
Fantastic HT smelt a rat.
He never made those comments again - although the attitude remained.
He's currently being managed out

Yes, Ruth was a disappointment and , frankly, odd

Who was the last truly OK ed sec?

There are lots of shared resources in both my subjects...and they are free , mainly but many need huge quality controlling first( lots are shit). I also enjoy planning, and teach subjects where teacher individuality is precious and endangered. I don't want everyone teaching the same texts to the same PowerPoint presentations. I'd rather endless assessing for data gathering and the concomitant marking demands were addressed. But someone has told the government that teachers spend most if their time planning. If they can reduce this, build in so called no marking policies, can we perhaps see a point at which they can say we need less planning time??

I am in a Facebook group for teachers and many new entrants really do not expect to plan anything.

since Ruth Kelly, anyway

I’ll never forgive Ruth’s mass cull of PRUs and specialist schools, whilst making sure her own son’s specialist school stayed open in Tower Hamlets for just enough time that he was able to get his education. Then even that one went ‘poof’

We don’t all have a lovely Mr Barton equivalent, sadly! Wish we did. Have spent so much of my own money on activity resources in there past . Was extremely grateful to mrbartonmaths when I’ve had to teach KS3 as part of my timetable before.

However, when I first started teaching ICT back in the day, Tony Blair had commissioned a set of resources (yes, lots of powerpoints, Piggy!) for the then KS3 ICT Curriculum and I would rather eat my own feet than have something so prescriptive and dull again (Pat’s Poor Presentation, anyone!?)

Most don't even actually want restraint in schools
I don't want pupils in my class who need restraint. Being inclusive should still mean excluding those who endanger others.

What do we think these things mean?

However he did mention “the need to make teaching a more flexible profession” and talked about “sharing resources so planning of lessons can be made more straightforward,” Mr Barton said.

Is this teaching by PPT?

I wonder this, too! I assumed it was after they had children, and she perhaps wanted to cut back working hours, given Gav must spend considerable time away from home. I reckon it is the closest we'll get to an Ed Sec actually knowing anything about the job (since Ruth Kelly, anyway). But if we think Gav is pulling the strings, I think we are deluded...

Interesting.

Why did his wife change from being a teacher to being a TA?

I agree. The government will pay lip service to this issue, no doubt.