What is really going on in our schools? Well, Laura....

[noblegiraffe]

Laura Kuenssberg appears to have just discovered that schools exist. New to the concept she has written an essay discussing what might be going on in them, from the perspective of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Basic errors include "standards haven't crashed because GCSE and A-level results in 2022 were up on 2019".

She mentions the lack of funding, but doesn't mention the lack of teachers. She mentions increased pupil absence but doesn't mention the implosion of support services for children like CAMHS, or the huge waiting lists for SEN diagnosis and the cutting of TAs in schools due to lack of money. She suggests covid might have had an impact, but not that the government have done basically nothing to address this and that their covid catch-up adviser resigned in disgust.

She says a minister says that 'teachers have had a bashing since covid'. Since covid! She doesn't mention this is led by the government and has been going on for years.

So, what's really going on in our schools? Anyone want to help Laura out?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-65360168

I think this post really gets across the terrible state we are in. I'm so sorry you and your children and their teachers have to operate in these conditions. This is the sort of thing Laura and other journalists need to know about. This is the sort of thing Labour need to bang on about, specific examples of how bad things are, not just 'Cons are bad, we'd be better' generalities. The gap between what some schools are able to provide and others is shocking and criminal, literally I mean, the Government have caused actual harm.

I think, when we are talking about poor behaviour, inability to concentrate and so on in schools, when we are rightfully looking at things like screen use, increased SEN etc, we should also consider the impact of the crumbling school system on the kids.

Every teacher knows how difficult it is to pick up a class after they have had a weak teacher. The gaps in knowledge. The lack of embedded routine. The general lack of engagement. How the new teacher needs to turn it around. To convince the kids that they are actually worth listening to. That they're not going to quit after a few weeks.

What if those kids have not just had a year of a weak teacher, or a weak teacher in one subject. What if that's their school experience?

That's what we've got because teachers keep leaving. Because schools have to hire whoever they can get, anyone with a pulse. Because a kid might come to your lesson having already had two cover lessons that day.

What does that do to a child's attitude to learning?

The entire system is broken and dysfunctional and has been for years.
The industrial model of schooling doesn't work in the digital age.
The age of deference and discipline is long dead.
Parents are now often as educated if not more so than teaching staff.
EHCPs have to go. Ofsted has to go. GCSEs need to be replaced. School uniforms need to go.

My DS is autistic and is coming to the end of his school life thank Christ. These secondary years have been horrendous. Shunted from one failed independent special school to another. Dumped in inappropriate settings with unqualified and inexperienced staff whilst costing the LA upward of 60k a year.
It breaks my heart to see families killing themselves to get EHCPs misguidedly believing they will be the answer.

What does that do to a child's attitude to learning?

…exactley, they are so far past the point of having any respect for their schooling.

The teachers have no respect for the education system.

The parents have no respect for the government.

Can we really be expecting the children to be fired up and enthusiastic and happy to self direct their learning in subjects and using methods which are no longer relevant? When all around them the are absorbing the disillusion.

When quite frankly it feels as though we are at the end of civilisation as we have known it, (let’s not get into the shift that is coming with AI in the next 6-12 months).

We no longer teach for jobs that don’t yet exist, as it was for our /my generation, jobs that aren’t considered. We are teaching children for entire lifestyles which are not yet conceived and for which we have no real picture.

This thread has been eye opening for me too, thank you all for sharing.

What staggers me is how quickly things have unraveled. 15 years ago i spent some time in schools inpoor areas and they were oases of calm, happiness and learning for the kids.

I guess destruction is so much easier than building up.

Teaching is definitely a whole other ball game to when I started 10 years ago. So many more students with SEND, more complex needs in some cases, conflicting needs, which means classrooms are just slowly bubbling till one of them kicks off. When I started teaching, I might have had 2-4 kids in my room who actively needed some form of differentiation for their SEND out if a class of 25, which was barely manageable then. Now, I have around 34 kids per class, and in some classes as many as 20-25 students with SEND that actively require me to work outside of the classroom on creating support materials for them. It's past not sustainable, it's now not possible. It's at the stage where I don't even remember who has what SEND and what their EHCP plan recommends because there is simply just too many to remember.

In year 7 there is a significant increase in students who are functionally illiterate and not always because of SEND. Covid can't be blamed in isolation for this age group. Bottom set English are doing the same EYFS phonics course that my 5 year old is doing in reception. Even in my top set class I have three students who are unable to form letters properly (writing 5 instead of S, for example). Colleagues in primary schools have warned us it's going to be even worse over the next 5 years in regards to the number of students unable to read or write and the number of students having been assessed or are being assessed for SEND.

With year 7 and 8 their attention is not there and they have a very poor attitude to learning in general. I am dreading year 8 reaching GCSE because their gaps in knowledge will be massive, and their lack of tenacity, resilience and responsibility for their own learning are going to result in a shit show on results day.

And this is just a small proportion of the issues. This doesn't cover no funding for year 11 revision sessions, behaviour getting worse, attendance figures being at an all time low, parents being more abusive, apathy in year 11, work experience being almost impossible to organise as fewer companies engage, no money for glue sticks or even books, the curriculum constantly changing adding to workload, fewer applications for jobs meaning we are knowingly hiring weak teachers, or even not getting the applications full stop.

The problem is, with things like NHS there are actual figures that effect everyone due to underfunding, such as wait times in A&e, number of mistakes made due to overtired, overworked staff. With education it's only perceived as parents that need to worry, rather than society because this is our future workforce, and even then parents are less engaged assuming their role starts and ends with getting their kids to school and any other issue is our problem to deal with.

I've got a year 11 I've not met yet this year. There are a good number like that in the school. Previously this was really rare!

I agree - things have unravelled so much in the time between me starting my job as a Teaching Assistant 13 years ago, and now.
Being a TA used to be a happy job with a lot of job satisfaction, hence I stayed on far longer than I should have done career wise (only intended to do it for a year to help my own ASD child settle into secondary school). TAs used to feel respected by management but now they just try to use us for covering lessons (or classroom control when the agency staff can't cope), or for invigilation of exams, on grade 3 salaries. The behaviour of the pupils is no longer something that many of us are prepared to tolerate. Plus it feels sad seeing so many SEN pupils being pushed into a mainstream school who really can't cope with the demands of the school day. Knowing from day 1 that they are going to struggle massively to fit in, then seeing the prediction turn to reality.

I read a good book the other day called ‘Stolen Focus’. It talks mainly about adults but at the end about children’s ability to concentrate being lessened by how we use screens these days, our diets and also pollution. It was interesting.

I'm a primary HT have loved this job for 15 years but I'm done.

All I've seen in this thread is true , it does appear that not being at school during lockdown mentally moved school from being seen as necessary in the minds of children and many parents to a place you can choose to be there/ engage or not.

Interestingly parents do complain more but not about the major flaws in education system, I'll get no complaints about major incidents or lack of staff but parents demanding a meeting over lost wellies !!

No money , I mean none , not enough staff ,increased sickness as everyone is under so much pressure. This loses one of the best things about working in a primary school the fun and that lovely feeling of working together for a common goal.

It really is at crisis level , and I feel like I'm in a toxic relationship in which I can't talk about the gaslighting and abuse, no more I'm done . Quietly finishing up .

This is very true. Ive also got a year 11, and 10, on my class register who Ive never seen. But general attendance is also really poor.

sadly, the breakdown of family life plays a huge part.

My DD has started suffering from terrible anxiety about school this year. She does go in,although she really doesn't want to. I have joined a Facebook group for families whose DC struggle to attend school and it is still of parents of DC with ASD/ADHD whose kids refuse school because they can't cope with the environment and there is little to no support available (including at a healthcare level).

Judging from my own DC's school and things I have read about others, I think the trend for "prison camp" behaviour management doesn'

full of

I understand the point you’re trying to make about the pressure teachers are under but NEITHER of those scenarios are okay. In fact blaming the child is worse is it not? Am I missing something? Either way, it begs the question (as does this whole thread) where have we gone wrong in our interpretation of learning and education? It’s such a sad scenario.

The root causes of all the problems in schools are the lack of funding and interference from a range of Education ministers who have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

Poor parenting (I'm a parent not a teacher). Pathologising normal emotions and setting up "pastoral" units where children are encouraged to go and talk about their "mental health."
Social media - the negative impact on girls in particular is enormous.
Eagerness to put children into a SEND box.
Blaming everything on Covid.
Teaching being almost entirely focused on getting children to pass tests/exams from KS1 to A levels.

That's just for starters.

As a teacher for many, many years, I am mystified by the number of office jobs created in schools by MATS. We now pay executive heads a huge amount of money but the role didn't exist until recently. There are 10 office people in our MAT and I have no idea what they actually do. It used to be a couple of people in the office. Presumably they use a lot of school budget but do they improve outcomes for children?

I agree something bigger is going on. We have more SEN in early years than I’ve ever known. Even with children under two you can pick up the ones that have autism, global development delay and other behavioural/ SP&C difficulties .

It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the newer vaccines is causing a problem - they have so many at once now - which ones are the newest?

Or later weaning - for allergies?

Screen time (children and parents) interrupting social interactions.

Pollutants.

Fewer parents at home as both working in the younger years. There is a marked difference in the behaviour of children in full time day care to those who only do part time. They become very peer orientated when they reach school age. On the surface they seem confident and social but they don’t listen to adult direction so well, preferring peer direction. This might be why some struggle to follow teacher direction later.

Children with behavioural difficulties can disrupt the whole class meaning those children who like to learn can’t learn or don’t get the attention to push their learning as the teacher is focused on stopping carnage elsewhere. Even in the early years certain SEN behaviours can take full adult attention. The difference there is we have a higher ratio of adults
to children than in older years.

Teachers are leaving because they want to teach not behaviour manage. They aren’t police or prison officers who know how to protect themselves or others from violent outbursts. Children with aggressive and disruptive behaviours should have a place to learn outside of mainstream with staff who are trained to help them manage those behaviours. In an ideal world of course.

My youngest is going into Y10 in Sept. She has asked if she can be home Ed as she enjoyed being away from the school environment during lock down. She prefers learning in a quiet space and without the chaos of others but unfortunately that isn’t something I can facilitate for her.

Completely agree, OP. Our education system is a shambles and that's due to successive Tory governments cutting budgets, forcing terrible T&Cs onto teachers so fewer want to teach and lack of support for those more in need.

Schools are having to apply sticking plasters on things. Kids fidgeting is relatively easy, move them to sit on pilates balls, it really helps with ADHD, but what about the quality of teaching?

Getting kids back into school following covid is a tough one. Can try attend live streamed classes instead? Would that help them? We are geading for a place we don't want to be with many kids once they finish school formerly at 16yo. Poor English, lack of basic maths knowledge may mean they're largely unemployable.

formally!

My son has been investigated for sen since he was 5 years old he is now 14 with no further progress and support he is failing and being failed but because he isnt smashing up classrooms he is "fine"

My youngest has an ehcp this was under an emergency review last June which still hasn't been finished their latest idea is he can continue in mainstream (because they can't find a sen school place) because he is "making progress" at his school which "goes against" his ehcp outcomes...his outcomes include being confident counting to twenty (he cant) and socially normal behaviour (no chance) he is in year five and the idea that they think he can go to mainstream secondary is terrifying he cannot walk unsupervised ANYWHERE how is he expected to walk to school walk around school its not possible he has a 1-1 now how are they going to manage! its laughable that they think its appropriate all the experts agree special school but lack of provision means he is stuck

The system broke a long time ago

Dds maths class is one teacher to 60 pupils. No TA because they couldn’t recruit a maths teacher and the students had a year - 18 months of substitutes

the prison camp crowd control referenced above is a big one. That can really upset some children, especially coming from primary to secondary. secondary is such a jump, primary teachers know you, they know your quirks, abilities and where you’ll struggle. Secondary everything is squashed for crowd control, and often in a way that sensitive quieter children can find upsetting and demotivating.

governments only every talk of primary, secondary’s have been so far down the list of no shits given for support and funding.

and this is a completely controversial elephant in the room, and a hypothesis, I wonder if two parents working full time and full time childcare plays a role later on in behaviour. Children should be used to sitting and listening by secondary. I wonder if it’s had an opposite affect.

Yes and the lack of investment into specialist schools so that pupils with incredibly complex needs are pushed into mainstream school under the guise of being Inclusive. With insufficient extra funding so in effect these pupils are not given enough 1:1 support so they struggle and cannot access either the work or any social opportunities.

Those roles used to be done by Local Authorities. Those jobs used to be there, but not in schools so you didn't see them.

1. Teachers expected to deal with students with complex needs without support staff.
2. Behaviour and lack of support from parents.
3. Excessive number of changes to jump through hoops.
4. Ofsted pushing more work onto middle leaders.
5. Lack of AP and send schools.
6. Overcrowded curriculum. Getting rid of the NC levels was also very stupid.
7. Pushing mental health problems onto schools rather than funding these properly through camhs.