to be horrified at the behaviour in bohunt school

[SEsofty]

Just watched the programme about Chinese teachers in uk. Whilst I appreciate that it is reality tv and thus exaggeration for effect I was still horrified with the apparent number of children who were talking in class.

I'm not that accident and went to a very normal school but talking whilst teacher did simply didn't happen. I don't agree with the Chinese methods but talking whilst someone is trying to teach you is simply rude.

I think the whole point of Ofsted is to make sure they do!

I haven't read all of the previous posts, but I was appalled by the treatment of the Chinese teachers by both pupils and teachers at the school. It seems that there is little understanding of, or respect for, Chinese culture and how very damaging loss of face would be to these teachers.

I think a lot of the kids are acting up to the camera and I would imagine quite a few are having difficulty with the Chinese accents (my teens really struggle to understand accents, even though Dh has a strong foreign accent). However, it seems to me that the 'experiment' is heavily weighted in favour of the English system winning and those poor teachers don't stand a chance.

Perhaps a better experiment would have been to have Bohunt teachers teaching their pupils using the Chinese method (directed by those Chinese teachers).

I would imagine that the Chinese kids are ahead of ours in subjects such as Maths simply because they work so hard and put in a lot more hours than our kids. It would have been very interesting to find out whether we could improve results using the Chinese methods, but unfortunately I don't think we'll be any the wiser after this programme.

I will rephrase it.
Schools might not manage it but the aim is to educate all and they will. E in special measures if they don't.
We don't have showcase schools in London and Birmingham and ignore deepest Norfolk etc.

Stupid auto correct and random full stops- sorry.
They will be put in special measures if they don't.

My friend's sister teaches English in China and she cannot believe how well behaved the children are over there compared to the schools in England. So the last series is next week and I have a strong feeling that the Chinese teachers will not succeed in the experiment and I could envisage how disappointed they will be.

I think it will be much more than disappointment for the Chinese teachers. They will likely feel intense shame and loss of face and feel that they have let their nation down and themselves. They've been treated so unfairly and it makes me very upset.

Agree with blossom8. I didn't like the parent saying that discipline was the school's problem. Parents should be teaching kids to be respectful and polite even if the lesson is a bit boring. I worry for our future society when its okay for people to be rude, entitled and nasty to someone who is doing their best. I don't think this attitude is confined to particular schools.
I have watched kids who have been taught to queue, take turns etc being shoved out of the way at things like gymnastic lessons and no-one stops the rude kids- even the parents if they are watching.

drudge
^I didn't like the parent saying that discipline was the school's problem6
but that was in no way unique to Bohunt.
Its a common and pervasive view of many thousands of parents

strangely enough their kids tend not to pollute the shades of selective and fee paying schools

drudgejudy great name, and couldn't agree with you more.

Epic fail with your name. Apologies, drudgetrudy

Yes talkinpeace-it certainly isn't unique to Bohunt-there's the problem! Glad u like my name Littleblackdress!
I don't think parents of kids at fee-paying schools are necessarily different-they're just afraid that their kids might be expelled but some of them are certainly capable of raising rude, entitled kids. Alos some parents from all backgrounds attempt to raise polite kids but then are alarmed to watch them being pushed around.

Unfortunately there are many parents who think it is the school's job to discipline rather than their job. You only have to listen to them telling their 4yr olds 'you won't be able to do that at school' - and it is generally something they don't want them doing at home but haven't been able to stop.

My personal opinion is that some parents should be more involved and encourage aspiration in their children. I, for one will not tolerate my DD being rude to others or exhibit bad behaviour. I get other parents commenting on how well behaved she is.

The pupils at Bohunt did not care less about their own country when it came to singing the national anthem etc. Where's their sense of pride and respect? The summer riots speaks for itself with the lack of discipline in our children.

We need to take responsibility for our children as we are their role model. I encourage my DD to aim high academically but more importantly to try her best as I rather she aim to be a lawyer than a contestant on a reality TV show and if she does not turn out to be a professional, then that's fine too but at least I can say I tried my best to bring her up the best that I can.

I think it is a big step to low level disruption in schools to summer riots.

I think some people have short memories - I was in a girl's grammar school over 40 hrs ago and teenagers don't sing the National Anthem with any sense of pride - they generally are not keen on singing it at all.

What a shower those "kids" are at Bohunt. The head teacher has no insight - if his school is as good as he thinks then it would have instilled attitudes of respect and discipline into the pupils which would be displayed WHOEVER is teaching them . The pupils are ignorant and idle, and he is smug . If I were a governor or parent I would be very worried about the head teacher.

I don't think not singing the national anthem with pride is about respect for your country. I think Britian likes to be understated in these sorts of things. Having the flag on every class as per U.S. kids is too OTT for our nation.

Ah - correction in my previous post - it must have read confusing....
I meant to write - 'that I have yet to meet a Chinese parent without very high aspirations........'

I think the school head and the SLT have seriously mismanaged this project. Where is the evidence of the Risk Assessment having taken place before the event?

To project manage such an “experiment”, it would be normal practice to envisage all possible outcomes and plan / act accordingly.

On standby there should have been some suitably skilled classroom assistants who had been appointed for their skill set in maintaining order; such people do exist and are often recruited form the police or HM Forces etc. I worked with an ex RN officer who worked as a cover supervisor / “trouble shooter”, he would keep order while teacher taught.

Where is the schools internal exclusion unit, (other nomenclature is used in other schools), in all this? This and other tools should have been used to discipline offending students, one or two examples being made and the others would have behaved.

There is little evidence of the students being prepared for the upfront for the teaching methods being used, with one student saying he could not keep up.

Not too long ago, i.e. from my junior school days to my higher education, teachers / lectures orating from the front was the main method of teaching used, it’s advantage being that more ground is covered more quickly; this must be one of the reasons why Chinese students progress with greater speed than ours.

Notes. That is what they should taking, not a verbatim record. Writing speed 25 wpm. These 15 / 16s do not seem to have been given the skills to discern what to write and what to leave out.

If the school had prepared itself and the pupils for this it might have made interesting viewing, instead the school, the head and the pupils seem to have subjected themselves to ridicule.

I feelreally sorry for the Chinese teachers. Their children are obviously taught from a really early age to respect adults and are very driven and well behaved in the classroom, so the teachers never have to learn classroom management skills.
That's the reason they battled with the Brit children.

I think their methods don't really work in this country, but that's not to say they are 'wrong' as such - they obviously work in China.
I thought the headteacher and his sidekick came across as unlikeable, smug, gloating and patronizing.
( It was great to see how the Chinese teachers at least managed to get the parents 'on-side' - within minutes during the parents evening) I think teachers in this country battle would battle to win parents over so quickly.

I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Isn't there a whole swath of knowledge that is not very interesting but still important to learn? And isn't the process of acquiring the basics of anything likely to be boring before you get to the stuff that's complex enough to be really interesting? I think it's pretty poor preparation for life and proper learning skills to instil the belief that learning is always fun and if it isn't you can skip that bit.

I agree.
Not everything in life is interesting and fun.

I haven't read all of the previous posts, but I was appalled by the treatment of the Chinese teachers by both pupils and teachers at the school. It seems that there is little understanding of, or respect for, Chinese culture and how very damaging loss of face would be to these teachers.

Solek, this is what I find a bit distasteful about this programme.
To the pupils it's just a bit of 'messing about' but this could have a really negative effect on the teachers' careers, when they get back to China.
Some of the comments the children have been making show a serious lack of respect and tolerance when it comes to other cultures.

Bohunt - You may be 'ahead with 'current teaching methods', (HT's view) but if this program is anything to go by, you are failing your children when it comes to teaching them to be courteous, tolerant, accepting and welcoming and above all, respectful towards people who have different ways and cultures to themselves.

Something you may want to work on in future.
Or is that not part of your ethos?

Hopefully the last episode will show the school in a better light.

That kind of behaviour has a serious effect on teachers' careers closer to home too. About 40% of newly minted teachers leave teaching within five years of qualification.

I've taught for too many years and yes some pupils will try the constant low level disruption, they're the ones that in 75% of cases have the parents who enforce no discipline at home, the parents that complain when their little precious is sent home with purple hair, or for not wearing their uniform, etc.

The parents that set the worst examples and then expect the schools to turn their little hoodlums into people with manners and consideration for others. Then they wonder why teachers are leaving in droves.