To be a bit naffed off with the advert for Jamie Oliver's "dream school"

[MogTheForgetfulCat]

I'm not a teacher (although thinking of becoming one...) and I know the programme hasn't even been on yet, so maybe I should give it a chance...

...but it just seems wrong to me to suggest that what kids who are struggling at school need are various low-level slebs coming in and pontificating. Why on earth should Alistair Campbell, for example, be an amazing/inspiring teacher? And I'm not aware that 'Expeditions' features highly on the curriculum of most schools, so gawd knows where they got that idea from.

I probably ABU, am v grumpy waiting for DS3 to finally show his face (9 days overdue and feeling twitchy about induction - gah!) But have felt irritated by the ad every time I've seen it, and think it's potentially a real smack in the face to the large number of good, dedicated and hard-working teachers out there who might be about to be undercut by some odd choices - and to what ends?

[EvilTwins]

Thanks, Pointy. Bet you change your mind when you've seen what St Jamie can do.

[fluffles]

i have not seen any trailers and dont' know what you're on about but i have to chip in and say that david starkey and ellen mcarthur are NOT "minor celebs". they are accomplished and inspiring people. they are not teachers, and you might not agree with everything they say, but they are both very driven and accomplished people.

[EvilTwins]

Totally agree with you fluffles - I bet they are superb speakers too.

My objection to this whole "project" though, is the implication that these famous people can do a better job than those of us who are trained to teach teenagers, and do so day in, day out. Whilst it would be amazing to learn sailing from Ellen McArthur, or listen to David Starkey talk about Elizabeth I in person, I'm assuming that this programme is going to go along the lines of "see how inspirational these people can be. If only the real teachers could be as brilliant..." whilst avoiding the fact that this is a TV programme, with a set-up "school", carefully chosen "students", famous "teachers" and lots of editing.

[fluffles]

well i don't know, it's called 'Dream School' so surely that already implies that no school in real life could actually have people like that teaching day-in and day-out.

[EvilTwins]

I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

[bulby]

But on that argument fluffles I can (and do) invite guest speakers into the classroom, therefore once again negating the need for the programme (and that in itself is a Job and a half, the hours of planning it takes to have a guest in for 1 hour!)

[PlentyOfParsnips]

I'd like to know why all these 'inspiring teachers' are men, except for Ellen McArthur teaching 'expeditions'. We never got 'expeditions' lessons at school. I feel deprived

[ilythia]

I'm doing my PGCE at the moment and finding it incredibly tiring, but watching teachers with 75% timetable who also do pastoral work and cannot get through one lesson without at least oen crying child at the door or a phone call 'emergency' during ehr lesson, or others who have to teach bottom set Yr 9 maths after triple swimming I think JO shoudl fuck the fuck off to a school in a normal for most 'rough' estate, try and get through registration without losing his cool and then try and tell teachers where they are going wrong.

twat.

And ffs, why can he not just use a normal plate once in a while!

[bamboostalks]

The thing that grates with me is that he sends his daughters to a very exclusive and expensive private school so it seems rather lacking in humility and tact to attack and criticise a system that you do not use.

[MarioandLuigi]

I would love David Starkey to teach me history!

[dustwhatdust]

I love the way some of you are always so negative and on the defensive .

Let's face it some of education system is failing, so why do you have to knock people who have diffenrent ideas about how to improve things .

Sure, this series is not going change the world, but let's just see what it has to say before you guys stand in judgement !!

How can you have an opinion when we haven't even seen programme, you've got to keep an open and receptive mind othewise the teachers are doing your students a disservice .

[kickassangel]

i'm hugely sceptical about anything to do with JO.

he plays the 'learning difficulties' role a LOT - but the school he went to is an exclusive grammar school which requires an entrance exam. so, age 11, he passed that exam. age 16, he left the school without qualifications. so, every single teacher in that school failed to teach him? i suspect there may have been a little bit of 'i'm ok, dad's got a job waiting for me' attitude - just my suspicions, though, no real evidence.

also, EVERY study i have ever seen where kids know that they are being observed, and shown a new, exciting, way to teach, shows drastic improvement in their learning over the period of the study. EVERY single one. even the one where kids with blue & brown eyes are separated & the blue eyed kids are told that they will do better - they do!
perhaps it's the spotlight being on them, not the teaching that they get?

mind you, if david starkey et al. have the time to teach every single child throughout the uk, or even the world, then i say 'let them'.

it's once again assuming that someone is a 'sleb' is somehow better than those who do the job every day for years.

so much wrong with this, i could go on for hours.

[ra29needsabettername]

i wouldn't be so sure that all the kids will be problem free nor that it will 'work'.

clearly children in school need more than just academic tuition (whether by people who are top in their field or not).

Ch4 doesn't always make everything fluffy- lets see what happens.

[sue52]

DD would love to have David Starkey and Alistair Campbell as teachers. Would they be available for state school pay?

[Blondebabe66]

I haven't read through all the comments so sorry if I am repeating something but why is this project, yet again, ignoring the kids from difficult backgrounds but drag themselves up and do well at school and instead giving kids that don't put the effort into their schooling a chance to experience something which will no doubt be different, interesting and rewarding???

I do think it is fundamentally wrong. If my children misbehave they get grounded, not sent on trips out and get to do other less main stream educational but more exciting stuff.

Why do we pander to those that choose not to behave or turn up at school and pay them attention for this misbehaviour at the expense of the kids that toe the line and like it or not get on with their schooling..

I suppose the viewing figures would not be so good if it were that scenario....

Hope I haven't offended anyone with this, from the first time I saw the ad I was fuming and wanted to put my point across.

x

[GothAnneGeddes]

I think JO pushing 'celebs' as the solutions to all our problems says more about what is wrong with our society then the education system does.

[demisemiquaver]

totally agree with blondebabe and gothanne.....also with most of what teachers say, BUT.some DO do a lot of whining about how impossible-to-teach-deprived their pupils are : is it NEVER down to bad teaching???

[Rackzy]

I just read that JO thinks this generation is frightened of hard work. Just made me smile, perhaps the learning activity has taught him something as well as the teenagers!! You can be as inspiring as you want but getting them interested in YOU is a different thing.

Go kids go!!

[SmethwickBelle]

Not sure today's teenagers could pick Simon Callow or Daley Thompson out of a line-up to start with so they'll actually initially be riding on their charisma and teaching talent not their back catalogue - and as such why are they any better than an experienced inspirational teacher? I'm confused by the concept but will give it a watch.

[COCKadoodledooo]

Fat lipped fuckwit.

If he really wants to change things then he needs to go in without a production company. To a real school. With real (not specially selected for television) pupils. Full time.

Then I'd believe it was for something other than shameless self-aggrandisement.

[Goblinchild]

From the article in Saturday's Times weekend section, most of the celebrities found it a lot more challenging than they'd expected, and failed on many key elements of good teaching,despite all the exciting extras such as visits to yachts and Downing street and the Globe.
Lord Winston letting a couple of boys out of class to have a wank seems to have been a hit though.
In order to provide a free, first-hand source to study in biology.

[Goblinchild]

And for all the david Starkey fans, according to Simon Callow (drama)

'Starkey's class was one of the most catastrophic. He walked in and said 'I'm a success and you're all failures. Why is that?'
There was a riot.'

[ssd]

op YANBU

[pinkgirlythoughts]

Unfortunately, I suspect that for all of the people who will watch it sceptically, as many posters on here will do, mindful of the fact that it's a completely artificial environment, nothing like really teaching day in, day out, all of the time, there will be many more people who watch it going "oh my God, this is why the education system is failing, get rid of all those shitty real teachers and get in some people who actually know what they're doing, like JO has done!!! This will solve all of our country's problems!!" etc etc. And those people, in general, will probably be much more vocal about their views.