Teachers what 3 things....

[Grumpyantics]

Would you change about your job if you could (except pay)....

1. Government funding
2. National curriculum/assessment expectations
3. Play based learning for much longer

1. Funding

1. More outside support services for non teaching issues. (requires more funding).

1. Parents that are effective when their child is being a dick in school.

Yes no 3 point! Good points!!

Observations (unless there are complaints or worrying results)

Having to write everything down. I know that when I teach percentages I'll talk about sales, loans, mortgages etc. Why the fuck do I need to write it down?

Learning objectives - spoil the shit out of a hidden learning task

Class sizes - 18 max from 33 now (bar P1)

Classroom Assistant in every primary class.

Kindergarten stage for 3-7 years.

I'm in Scotland.

I'm very lucky that I now work in a school like this (besides number 2) BUT from my previous job I would've changed:

• lack of school wide routines that were not consistently enforced which led to appalling behaviour.
• the number of students in a class (32 is wayyyy too many esp for a practical subject like Science).
• the amount of teaching hours a week (we need more PPA to plan effectively). In my new school all lessons are planned centrally so you use your PPA to only modify them and figure out how you're going to deliver the lesson. But even that is embedded into the PPT.

1. Revert back to LA-maintained schools, with a central hub for training, supply, specialist staff etc.

1. Scrap weekly staff meetings (maybe monthly only?) and require teachers to spend that remaining 3 hours a month on CPD that was a) relevant, b) interesting and c) applicable in their role.

1. Fill the DfE with teachers and ex-teachers and other school staff only, so any changes made are reasonable, appropriate and well-consulted with education staff.

1. The job being plan lessons, teach lessons, mark homework/Full stop, repeat.
2. Time like full three - five days at the start of term to plan schemes of learning and fully resource them with access to photocopier.
3. A different approach to secondary learning which includes on site units where students can flow between mainstream lessons and specialist support. Rather than students who struggle disrupting those who can access mainstream lessons plus it destroy their self belief in their ability to learn, by continuing to place them in a doom cycle of disrupting and getting in trouble. At the moment we have a lose lose system.

Class sizes of 20
TA in every class all day every day for general support
Less micromanagement and pointless paperwork/meeting/politics

1. numbers in science classrooms, you can’t do decent lab work with 30+. Should be capped at 25.
2. Only teaching in your subject - I an a physics teacher, don’t ask me to teach chem or bio.
3. The ‘it will only take 5 min tasks’ that never do

I like observations, but them I have a very supportive school and they are used positively for support and recognition.

Observations keep staff on track.

I was HOD at my old school and if I didn't go into classrooms enough teachers started slacking.

My new school has open door policy. You can have three people wander into your classroom in one lesson. It means all teachers enforce the routines consistently and plan their lessons properly.

More money for SEND.
Marking (especially in KS1 when they can barely even read it).
Minimise the curriculum in primary to ensure the basics are absolutely solid.

Trust that you can do your job without having to jump through ridiculous hoops to prove it....

Presumption of mainstreaming
Class sizes- no more than 22
TA for every class

Sounds awful IMO. Most teachers would feel like they'd have to overplan everything just in case someone walks in.

Absolutely minimise the primary curriculum. Let us focus on the basics and embed a love of learning. Everything else can follow.

Funding

Workload

Acceptance of sub-par staff by SLT. I am SO sick of having to carry colleagues who just can't be bothered to do their job properly because they have worked at the school for X number of years and have settled into a nice comfy rut of incompetence...

Mandated centrally planned lessons sounds awful. I want my creativity to be allowed.

Open door is better than one off observations.

💖

@Disneyblueeyes but they don't have to plan.

They just have to prepare beforehand by making sure they've actually looked at the lesson and made modifications where necessary.

I.e. spending more time doing knowledge checks or differentiating a particular task if need be

This!

Observations, and not having to use my own time to prepare lessons. That links to pay in that we only get paid for the classroom time, but it’s hard to not mention it.

Paid support for children requiring 1:1 rather than existing PSAs being pulled from general class support roles

Far higher wages for psas so that it is a viable career option for people. It really is such an important role and the pay is pitiful.

More support for learning provision. Early intervention can make such a difference but often the children on the cusp of needing additional support cant be prioritised. If feels like a wasted opportunity to close the gap.

I thought this until I started working.

The responsibility for planning is shared between the dept.

Everything is there - the knowledge you're teaching, the examples, the questions, the activities. Of course they can be modified - you may need to spend more time explaining a particular part of the lesson or include more practice questions or model more.

But the aim is that teachers are not spending yonks planning lessons and using their PPA to perfect what's already there for their classes.

1- proper support for children in my class.

This is the only thing I want.