to think there is something seriously wrong with our education system..

[TwinkleToes101]

when teachers are leaving in droves?

Just recently reading about record numbers of newly trained teachers giving up within 5 years (that was me 14 years ago), then on MN today partners having depression/breakdowns and all the posters who teach knew the person in question was a teacher...what the F is going so badly wrong with teaching??

I thought my reasons for leaving were personal: too little me time, too much low-level classroom disruption. Other postgrads I know left as I did because of work load. But don't other professions have high workloads/stresses?

@Oliversmumsarmy

Is your son getting suitable access arrangements for his GCSEs? Extra time, computer reader, scribe?

the insistence that all children, despite their tough experiences or needs, should also make the same smooth progress

This is a massive issue. My employer demanded that all students should have good attendance and achieve at least a basic pass, and I was held responsible for delivering this, even if the students weren’t capable of passing or had other circumstances eg illness or bereavement. The worst part was that they didn’t demand this for the benefit of the students - they demanded it because they received money for every student who passed. I was asked to do unprofessional things such as giving students the answers or falsifying data, so the student passed on paper and they received the money for that student.

removing the utterly useless and damaging testing systems like sats and the phonics test, (it makes my blood boil to walk past 5 year old children in the corridors practising their reading of lists of words like "splick

The phonics screening test was originally designed to find children at risk of reading failure and provide extra early intervention. Nonword reading is an excellent way of determining who is struggling with phonics and therefore is at risk of reading difficulties. The problem is not with the test, but with the fact that it has become a stick to beat teachers with and led to teaching to the test, rather than a rounded reading programme.

I thought the phonics check was introduced because there was a hardcore bunch who insisted on not teaching phonics and this was to flush them out.

Thank you Piggy.
I love my job. I just can’t stand the bullshit that goes with it!

with the current condition of the education system do any teachers on here think home schoolings a better option?

I think school is good for socialisation and I intend to at least try sending my DC to school. But if it continues to be this bad (or worse) and my DC isn’t being taught properly, or is being bullied by other kids who aren’t being managed properly, then I’m fully prepared to pull out of school and home educate.

Part of my reason is because I wish my parents had been able to remove me from school. I can say with the benefit of adult hindsight that there were a number of other kids who weren’t properly supervised, their complex needs weren’t being met so they were negatively affecting others, also my own needs weren’t being met, and several teachers failed to deliver proper lessons and were clearly alcoholics, depressed, or otherwise struggling. I didn’t receive a decent education because of these issues. I was desperate to be home educated but my parents lacked the skills. And this was 20 years ago - I expect it’s worse now.

A couple of years ago, only 25% of children passed the Yr1 phonics screening test. It had Ofsted visit not long after, and they found teachers were lacking phonics knowledge, along with a host of other issues. As a parent, I was more irritated with the MAT than anything else, but unfortunately Ofsted were quite glowing in their praise of them. So the axe came swinging in and a load of teachers went. They way one particular teacher was treated was just awful. Completely stitched up. But if they'd been no screening, would the phonics issue have been picked up? It's never been the school of choice, but is the answer for all local parents to Home Ed?

I thought the phonics check was introduced because there was a hardcore bunch who insisted on not teaching phonics and this was to flush them out.

One of the lecturers on my MA was part of the team that developed it. She was very upset at the way it was being used. It is an excellent screening tool and is a simpler, shorter version of similar assessments that are used as part of a full diagnostic assessment for dyslexia. I agree that quite of few teacher were very resistant to phonics.

I'm very pro teaching phonics. But I believe it's only part of a huge skill set involved in reading, and that the key to teaching reading is unlocking a love of books and facts and stories and the belief that reading is a wonderful thing.

I think a thorough scrutiny of the teaching of reading and phonics was positive for teaching. However, because of the way schools are judged now, there is a huge over-emphasis on teaching year 1 children to pass that test to the detriment of other aspects of reading. Many schools do this by sitting children through reams of checks and tests of non words. I think there are a million other activities children could be doing to promote the joy and the skills involved with books and reading. I'm really not saying or meaning by that that teaching or assessing phonic knowledge is wrong, or supporting children who need extra help is wrong, just that there are other ways of doing it, and other hugely important reading skills to focus on too.

As for home education, I think it's a complex situation. As a teacher I wouldn't want to home educate my children. I think I have an optimistic hope that the values in education will change one day and in the mean time I read bucket loads to make children, listen to music, go on bike rides, talk and research endlessly about new facts and questions and try to give them as positive a sense of themselves as I can.

I think as a nation we do not support our teachers enough, we don't see it as a 'worrhy' enough job and so we don't put the respect on teachers that they deserve... Places like Norway have the best education system because to them, teaching is the ultimate top profession in the country and I love that attitude.

When will we start giving more respect to the people who teach our children and the children of tomorrow who will one day be running the Country etc??

Kudos to the teachers of these current times, you fully deserve respect for all that you do, I wish you had more support so you could actually teach...

Thanks to the government expectations we've got a generation of children being raised to know enough for exams but not actual knowledge of anything important... Really no point banging on about world war 2 from year 3 to year 11 when they know nothing about current affairs...

We need a major overhaul of the education system!!

Excellent post MakeItRain

As a teacher, no I wouldn’t home educate currently. My children are too bright for me to feel able to stretch them sufficiently and reach their full potential. And we couldn’t afford it!

Orangecushions

Yes he does but when it comes to the comprehension test he has not a clue.

He understands the piece but the questions are beyond him.

I couldn’t do the comprehension homework when he was in year 3 let alone the stuff they set for GCSE.

I actually don’t think for a trade you need anything more than basic maths.
Even then I doubt you would need a gcse.
You just don’t use an English GCSE.
As long as you can speak and follow a conversation then there really isn’t any need.

I think a start on changing the system should be that primary schools should be making sure that every child can read and write and do basic maths.

If they can teach anything else that is a bonus.

Then secondary is for actually learning things and being given a wide variety of subjects that they can try.

I think at 16 you would a happier healthier and more productive potential workforce and colleges should open their doors to those that want to learn and not put up barriers to students.

Atm in ds’s college class there is only 1 out of 30 students who has passed both English and Maths.

Some are not probably going to pass the course this year and have to repeat the year but for about 8 of them including him who failing English next June will mean they will have come to the end.

I'm by no means fixated on Phonics being the only way - it's really not going well for 3rd DC! But if it is to be taught - even as part of a wider approach - but the teaching staff don't have the skills, and the management is poor, how is it caught? I suppose DC's primary school was unusual in that they were unaware they had a problem with how they were teaching phonics, thus the very low % passing.

My disappointment was with how that the buck stopped with the teachers, and the MAT walked away without any consequences of what I perceive to be their failings. And there were so many (no DBS/pre-employment checks, couldn't find files on vulnerable pupils, not spending PP funding etc).

I knew my DS2 would get through primary o.k. despite all the crap that was going on, as he's pretty academically able, quiet conscientious type. It's very different story for my 3rd, who has SN and is struggling a lot. I can't honestly see him still being in school in a year's time.

NC for this. I was a good teacher and I loved teaching. But it nearly killed me. I can not and will not go back to it, I am certain it would actually kill me. And I got out a few years ago, when the data demands and scrutiny were only ridiculous, rather than ideologically driven and insane like they are now. I highly recommend that people read Stephen J Ball's 'The Teacher's Soul and the Terrors of Performativity' - it's shocking and very true.

I was a good teacher and I loved teaching. But it nearly killed me. I can not and will not go back to it, I am certain it would actually kill me

This is exactly how I feel. I loved it but I can never go back and it breaks my heart.