to ask WHY in the name of Gove are teachers striking again?

[loftyclopflop]

DD's school is closing on 1st October because they have chosen to strike. Is it over pay, pensions and conditions? Did they achieve anything by striking a couple of years ago other than massively inconveniencing a lot of parents?

I know Gove is a twat but do they really expect to change anything by taking the day off?

I agree starlight about many teachers not being good at admin. I am rubbish at it and the people we have do it faster and much better .

I do think that teachers are good at data informed planning, that is our bread and butter.

'I do think that teachers are good at data informed planning, that is our bread and butter'

Perhaps. My experience is that some teachers plan a lesson and then look at the data to try and find justification for it. They also ime bleat on about how all the time they spend collecting data gets in the way of their teaching or takes up time they could spend teaching, which to me is very odd and doesn't exist in any other industry that is expected to get results efficiently.

Talking about reasons for teachers going on strike, I just read this excellent blogpost about why Ofsted is rubbish from Oldandrew. Don't always agree with him but he is spot on here:

teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/what-id-do-about-ofsted/

An extract:

"Beyond this, there are certain areas where the approach to inspection is, in my view, pretty indefensible. Robert Coe is right to question the effectiveness of observations, but even if we accept that suitably competent inspectors are able to judge lessons it seems absurd to suggest that they can judge every lesson they observe for 25 minutes so precisely that they can accurately put it into one of four categories. An inspector might notice in 25 minutes that they are watching a disaster unfolding or that a teacher doesn’t know their subject. On rare occasions an inspector might happen to stumble into something wonderful, although it is highly likely that this would be a show put on for the inspector which just so happened to fit the inspector’s taste than an indicator of general teaching quality, but most observations are going to simply be too brief to make any genuine judgement about the quality of teaching. It is no wonder inspectors rely on personal preferences or checklists of activities when they are expected to make such a judgement on so little evidence. Even the defenders of observation tend to suggest that it is only across the whole school, and when triangulated with results, that these judgements are meaningful, which makes giving grades to individual teachers which may affect their whole careers utterly unfair. Lesson observation should be based on whole lessons and should be pass or fail (with opportunities to pass on comments, but not grades, about particularly good practice). The existence of the outstanding grade simply encourages teachers to throw gimmicks at inspectors. There should also be a “no conclusions drawn” option for inspectors. They should be able to say when they find it impossible to judge what they’ve seen, not forced to guess and then climb down if the school kicks up a fuss."

I love data. Pretty shocked at some teachers', and SLT's, understanding of it though. You need to start with collecting the right data. Only then can it inform teaching, rather than just tell you if you were successful or not.

Gove is a turd, a dickhead, a twat (as everyone calls him) a knob whatever.
If you were a teacher (like me) you would be striking to. So many of us, and parents too, want to punch him. It would feel really good. Not moral or legal, we know but hey-ho that's how we feel.

That is all.

I was observed for 14 minutes in our last OFSTED. One of the students timed it!

Of course, teachers being shit at understanding data that didn't exist as a requirement when they trained does not justify shafting them.

In fact it makes them easier targets in many ways because they can find it difficult to demonstrate their worth or stand up to Ofsted if they feel they have been badly misjudged.

I do think there should be more accountability in education though, and more true evidence-based practice rather than 'professionally endorsed good practice' that has no basis in science. Evidence is a weapon. 'Professional Opinion' and 'Strikes' nowhere near as effective to challenge or gain support.

Fab student!!

When you say accountability, what do you mean? The performance of every pupil I teach is available to my PM reviewer. Their performance in my subject, all their subjects, how they compare with students nationally, on average, from the same starting point, from the same "group" etc. If you have a well informed manager, you can't dodge the hard questions.

My recent perspective is SEN. I'm afraid in my experience, nobody is interested in even asking the questions, except the parents.

Also, when you look at data, do you just see numbers, or do you see children?

When I was in employment I was involved in education data and teachers could show me their 'figures' but couldn't tell me who they related to. If I picked a few children who had something in common and asked who they were teachers would shrug.

Also, there would be a lot of causal assumptions. i.e. kids were performing at x level. We put in an intervention and now they are performing a level higher, therefore intervention is working. But no evidence that increase in level had anything to do with higher level.

I wholeheartedly support the teachers' cause, but do think you are woefully let down by your unions. I've suggested to DH that he starts a new union for informed teachers who understand what the issues in education are.

Unfortunately the teaching unions seem incapable of recognising the profession has an image problem and doing something about it. They provide soundbites that Gove must dream about and trot out the weakest press releases known to man. What was that nonsense a few months' ago about the unions calling out to reduce the time teachers spent teaching? Why has no-one asked their union how they completely managed to lose the point about it being about too much PPA and challenge them on the fact that all it did was add to the perception that teachers are lazy?

When membership is £200 a year per teacher, I'd like to know why they can't employ a press officer who can match the shite the government churns out and put together a coherent argument about why they're striking.

And for every Daily Fail reader who bleats about 13 weeks holiday and gold-plated pensions, I think there's a teacher who's blindly following the herd and not completely understanding what they're going on strike for. I think most teachers, when sat down and really thinking about what's at stake and what they have a problem with, would be surprised at how much they've taken what the unions have told them as read without looking into it themselves.

The pensions is a good point. The changes are not great but it's clear from some of the posts on here that some people don't understand them and if that's your basis for striking, you need to understand them. Likewise the performance related pay terms. I agree it's concerning and anyone who thinks that this is a ploy to reward good teachers is misguided. But when people argue that it'll mean no-one wants to teach the bottom sets or under-achievers, I just think people have just read the headlines from the unions.

I think it's important to question both side's agenda. The government's is obvious; put less money into state education, systematically erode how much a school needs to run and provide a semi-decent education for the proles. But don't forget the teaching unions have an agenda too, and I don't believe they have DH's best interests at heart either. To support the unions you must believe they are acting for you and what you believe and I do think that involves more than just reading what they send you.

And too many people unilaterally hold Gove responsible for all that is wrong with mankind. His name's a dirty word in our house, and he's an odious little man, but it was OFQAL who did away with the English controlled assessment results. And OFQAL who has also delayed the roll-out of the new GCSEs for a year as they weren't prepared to implement something Gove had dreamt up overnight.

I see students of course. The data tells me what they can and can't do. I target the things that could be better, try to help them learn how to do it and then assess to see if they can. I don't attribute causality, because I'm not doing an experiment. I look at outcomes.

All the while of course, I try to share my love for my subject and help them see the beauty and importance of it. Less measurable.

Teachers are not doing 'experiments' but do no you not feel they have a duty to develop themselves, their teaching and their children's attainment, and their delivery to their clients? And pretty much like in any other industry be rewarded for that development and progress in their career based on the evidence rather than (again my experience of SEN) being promoted out of the classroom into a LA Autism Advisory Teacher role!?

Ilovesooty touché about the compliant students

It does sound like a well run school where staff wellbeing is important.

I remember you from TES too, sooty. I don't go on there anymore - don't like the layout! (sometimes have a quick look when MN is offline). I don't recognise the job Arisbottle is describing.

They also ime bleat on about how all the time they spend collecting data gets in the way of their teaching or takes up time they could spend teaching, which to me is very odd and doesn't exist in any other industry that is expected to get results efficiently

Ever worked in criminal justice? Of course it isn't unique to teaching.

Oh and "bleat on" is pretty offensive.

I'm not sure what you mean. I am judged pretty much solely on the performance of students. As a classroom teacher, I was judged on my classes, as a HOD on my subject results, and on SLT for the subjects I line manage and the school as a whole.

I was promoted on the basis of my department's results. My progression still depends on pupil performance. That's how it works.

I don't like the new TES layout either cardibach

Starlight you query causal assumptions regarding data and interventions. This is exactly what so much data analysis in teaching does, assumes that what a child achieves is a direct result of the quality of the teaching. Hence HODs having to account for "their" results every year. This coarse linking is used as the stick with which to beat teachers every year.

The year I taught Media Studies, the results mapped against predicted grades were outstanding and I was congratulated. I knew of several significant factors, not to do with me, which helped them be so, but was ignored. Presumably had the results been less good that would have been down to me, too.

With you TESers on the new layout. Utterly baffling. I haven't posted since, and rarely visit the site now. Sad, really as I used to like reading what Nomad had to say.

My role on the school management team has two aspects, both linked with wellbeing. The wellbeing of the staff and the wellbeing of the pupils. I am a good teacher but it is not a vocation to me, I became a teacher because I wanted to see more of my children than I was in my previous career. I enjoy teaching but don't want to spend any more time doing it than I have too.

We have invested a lot of time and money in trying to make sure that our staff are not working all weekend and do as little as possible over the holidays. It is well known in my school that I refuse to work over the holidays, I never work at all on a Saturday and only Sunday evening. Once a week I expect to be able to walk out of work for 4pm. I hope all of ur staff feel ale to do the same. Each department has a workload rep who keeps an eye on everyyone and reports back if demands are becoming too high.

Our staff are mainly very happy, retention rates are high and this is a factor in our mainly good standards of behaviour . Overworked teachers can't cope with teenagers - even compliant ones.

Our staff don't photocopy, put up displays, input data more than once and sometimes not at all, analyze data to a great degree, chase absences, organize trips, do orders. I am sure there is more but I can't think at the moment.

Some new staff struggle, they say " I like doing ..." But they realise why our school runs in the way it does,

Is your school hiring, Aris?

See, I had some time off with stress which caused palpitations about a year ago (only a couple of weeks). In my meeting with the head on my return, I pointed out that to spend 5 mins per week per book would involve 3 hours every day including weekends and that her requirements for marking meant that each book actually takes longer than that. She offered no solution or even sympathy. I know very well that anyone not doing it her way will be on competency like a shot, so what do you suggest we do, Arisbottle?

I teach year six and I spend up to 10 hours a week marking, usually an hour before school and an hour after school. If I can I'll try and do some at dinner time but that doesn't happen often.
For me that isn't excessive because I think it is worthwhile allocation of my time.

I like marking because it informs my planning and I work really hard to make my marking a two way process that is a dialogue between myself and the children.
Last year I was delighted when due to a combination of factors I didn't mark books for 48hrs and the children were positively annoyed!

I probably do more marking than is actually required by school policy, but I despair of colleagues who think a tick and v.good is sufficient.